In this week’s photo selection, a brilliant shot of a sunbathing Icelandic seal pup inspired us to corral more pictures of those immensely photogenic mammals of the sea, particularly seals, otters, and sea lions.

Earless seal (Phocidae), Kjosarsysla, Iceland.

Central Coast, British Columbia.

Antarctic Fur Seal3 Salisbury Plain So. Georgia.

Ohau Point Seal Colony, Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Taken on Blakeney Point, Norfolk, U.K.

Amazon Basin, Sani Lodge, Ecuador.

“Today I spent the morning at the Dillon Moist Soil Unit of Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge.

While I had initially intended to look for Soras and other marsh birds, my plans quickly changed after spotting a family of river otters shortly after arriving.

In all, there were 7 otters that moved about the marsh as a group, swimming, fishing and playing together. The coolest thing was to see all seven on the same log at one point, licking and grooming one another.

I also had the opportunity to hear one of the youngest pups yipping for it’s mom like a puppy when it fell behind and got momentarily separated from the group, something I had never heard before.” – Steve Gifford

Eurasian otters at the Auckland Zoo.
Threat Status: Near threatened
Habitat: Asia, Africa, Europe
Diet: Carnivores

Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

This photo selection is inspired by the Marine Mammals group.

To join this series, tweet @flickr with your favorite wildlife photos, and include the hashtag #WildlifeWednesday. And if you’d rather not tweet, simply include the same hashtag in your Flickr photo title, or tag it with WildlifeWednesday.

We look forward to seeing your contributions and featuring a new selection of your photo submissions every Wednesday here on our blog.

Previously featured for this series: Wildlife Wednesday: Butterfly wings