#20MarineMammalQuestions
#20MarineMammalQuestions
#20MarineMammalQuestions
Fun facts about your favourite aquatic animals! 20 questions to get you thinking just how diverse and incredible these marine mammals really are!
Cetaceans
#20MarineMammalQuestions
#20MarineMammalQuestions
Find out about the remarkable whales, dolphins and porpoise that make up this group of totally aquatic mammals
Pinnipeds
#20MarineMammalQuestions
Pinnipeds
The "paddle feet" mammals contains some amazing animals, covering the polar regions to the tropics, they manage to move between the land and watery worlds!
WHAT IS A CETACEAN?
Cetaceans are some of the biggest, most charismatic and threatened animals on Earth. These animals include the whales, dolphins and porpoise and as diverse as they are, they share common features. All cetaceans have a fully aquatic lifestyle, having lost their hind limbs in favour of a powerful tail that ends in a broad paddle for propulsion. They also also share streamlined bodies and carnivorous diets.
TYPES OF CETACEANS
TOOTHED WHALES = ODONTOCETI
TOOTHED WHALES = ODONTOCETI
TOOTHED WHALES = ODONTOCETI
This group not only includes those whales with teeth (e.g. sperm whale and beaked whales) but also members of the porpoise and dolphins. Where they may be commonly referred to as killer whales, the orca is in fact the largest of the dolphins.
Given the huge difference in size and habitats they inhabit, these animals display diets that are equally varied. Members of the Odontoceti use their teeth to hunt small fishes and squid to sharks and whales!
FILTER FEEDERS = MYSTICETI
TOOTHED WHALES = ODONTOCETI
TOOTHED WHALES = ODONTOCETI
These animals include the biggest animals that have ever lived on Earth. Remarkably, they feed predominantly on small creatures that they filter from their environment using sieve-like structures called baleen plates that hang from their jaws.
The populations of many species have been decimated by human hunting for their meat and rich blubber which has historically been an important source of lamp fuel and lubricant for watches.
Pinnipeds
Pinniped simply translates to "paddle feet" and consists of the seals, sea lions and walrus. These animals benefit from being able to take advantage of opportunities to feed in the water and to be able to also move between their watery world and the land.
Whilst they are wonderfully adapted to be agile in the water, they tend be be more cumbersome on land with their hind limbs having evolved to function as a steering tail and their forelimbs propulsive paddles.
Pinniped Parenting
The ability to move on to land allows females to select a safer environment for them to rear their young.
Mothers produce very rich milk that allows the young pups to quickly gain weight. Even though the mother will demonstrate tremendous care for her pup, she must continue to return to the water to replenish her own nutrients. This leaves the young vulnerable and they must develop independence quickly - not least as pinniped childhoods are relatively short, with the mother soon returning to her ocean life, leaving the young animal to fend for themselves.
In polar species, the pups may start life with thick white fur to both insulate them against the cold and camoflague them from predators.