• American Camp prairie and Mount Finlayson.

    San Juan Island

    National Historical Park Washington

  • American Camp Visitor Center on Daily Schedule

    The American Camp visitor center will be open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., daily through Friday, June 2. Grounds are open sunrise to 11 p.m. The English Camp visitor center opens June 2. Grounds are open 8 a.m. to sunset. More »

Pinnipeds

sea_lion_erect
A California sea lion rears its head at the approach of visitors on the trail at Grandma's Cove at American Camp. Visitors are cautioned to remain at least 200 yards from marine mammals on the beach.
NPS Photo
 

The word pinnipedia translates from Latin as "feather or fin foot," referring to their often large fin-like flippers. All pinnipeds must come ashore to breed, give birth, and nurse their young. Seals, sea lions, and walruses are taxonomically related to other carnivores, including bears, dogs, raccoons, and weasels (including otters).

Three families of living pinnipeds are recognized:

  1. Phocidae (earless seals or true seals)
  2. Otaridae (eared or fur seals and sea lions)
  3. Odobenidae (walrus)

Did You Know?

camas

Camas bulbs were so highly prized by Northwest Indians for their creamy potato/baked pear taste that groups sometimes fought over the best growing areas, and people traveled great distances to harvest the bulbs and prepare them into thin, dry cakes. To ensure future harvests, the Indians burned the prairie regularly.