Acrophoca longirostris is an extinct species of pinniped

Pinniped

Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

 whose fossils have been discovered in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. It is thought to have been the ancestor of the modern leopard seal

Leopard Seal

The leopard seal , also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic...

.

Its fossils have been found alongside those of the marine sloth Thalassocnus

Thalassocnus

Thalassocnus is an extinct genus of semi-aquatic or aquatic marine sloth from the Miocene and Pliocene of South America. Fossils found to date have been from the coast of Peru. They were apparently grazers of sea grass and seaweed. Over time, they apparently shifted from a preference for feeding...

and tusked cetacean Odobenocetops

Odobenocetops

Odobenocetops was a small whale from the Pliocene. It had two tusks, and, in some fossils, one tusk was longer than the other.-Description:...

, as well as modern animals such as bottlenose dolphins, gannet

Gannet

Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...

s and cormorant

Cormorant

The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

s.

Description

Acrophoca was around 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long, and was not as well-adapted to swimming as its descendants, possessing less developed flippers and a less streamlined neck. This may indicate that it spent a lot of time near the coast. Its diet probably consisted primarily of fish.