Transcript Powerpoint

Marine Mammal Notes
Mammal Characteristics
– warm blooded. Body
temperature regulated internally.
 Hair – to retain body heat
 Viviparous – live bearing animals.
Embryos develop within the mother’s
body.
 Placenta – membrane that connects baby
to mother.
 Mammary glands – feed young
with milk
 Lungs
 4 Chambered heart
 Endotherms
Pinniped Characteristics
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Examples: Seals, sea-lions and walruses
Pinni – “winged”
Ped – “footed”
Thought to have evolved from cats, dogs and
bears.
Most live in cold regions
Predators that feed mostly on fish and squid
Paddle shaped flippers for swimming but they
need to rest and breed on land.
Pinniped Characteristics, cont’d
 Animals
are big – less surface area to
volume.
 Males are bulls, females are cows, babies
are pups
 Blubber – a thick layer of fat under their
skin
*used as a food reserve
*provides buoyancy
*warmth
Sea lions
5 species
 Characteristics
Dog-like faces and they “bark”
Use front (anterior) flippers to swim
Rear flippers can be rotated forward so they can
walk on land.
 Graceful, agile swimmers
 Related to fur seals
 California Sea Lions – do tricks at Sea World –
smart
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Seals
19 species
Characteristics
 Cat-like faces
 Rear flippers (posterior)
cannot be moved forward so
they have a hard time
moving on land
 Better swimmers than sea
lions – they can dive deeper
for a longer period of time.
 Examples: Harbor seals and
Elephant seals
 Elephant seal males can get
up to 20 feet and weight 4
tons.
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Comparing Seals and Sea lions
Seals
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cannot rotate rear
flippers
 Short neck
 Swim with rear flippers
Sea lions
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Can rotate rear flippers
 Long neck
 Swim with front flippers
Walrus
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Characteristics
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Tusks are used for defense and to pull
themselves up on the ice. If one breaks with
more than half remaining, they can regrow.
Tusks are canine teeth.
They live in the Arctic.
Their blubber can weigh up to 900 lbs.
They have inflatable air pouches in their throat
They eat shrimp, snails crabs, clams and
mussels
To swim they use their front and rear flippers.
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 Whiskers:
Act as feelers to suck up bottom
invertebrates and clams. Full grown species
have approx. 300 stubby whiskers.