Skeleton of Allodesmus sp. at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan.

Allodesmus is an extinct genus of pinniped from the Miocene and related to the genus Desmatophoca. It measured about 8 feet (2.4 m) long and weighed 800 pounds (360 kg). Allodesmus had the specific anatomical features found in modern polygynous pinnipeds: sexual dimorphism, strong canines for fights between bulls and teeth with well-defined growth zones, a result from periodic fasting (in order to defend their harem, males would not take to the sea to feed during the breeding season).^[1]

References [edit]

• After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Life of the Past) by Donald R. Prothero
• Vertebrate Palaeontology by Michael J. Benton
• Functional Morphology in Vertebrate Paleontology by Jeffrey J. Thomason
• Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, ed. William F. Perrin, Bernd Würsig, J.G.M. Thewissen

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