I have a question. Would an animal like a pinniped (seal) be considered a living transitional animal? That is to say an animal that harbors physical traits of two vastly different species, in the seals case fins of marine animals and a skull more reminiscent to land mammals than to marine mammals such as whales. Some here might give me the technical answer and say "every living animal is a transitional animal since they are are all links in the chain of evolution." Although I agree with this, there is of course an obvious reason why we do not classify all fossils as transitional fossils, only certain ones such as tiktaalik get label that because of their distinct anatomy. I want to know why or why not a pinniped may be regarded as such. Thank you