Download Notes: Marine Mammals

Notes: Marine Mammals
Sea Otters, Polar Bears,
Manatees
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Sea Otters
General Characteristics
Order: Carnivora
Smallest marine mammal 60-80 lbs.
Raft – group of otters
Live in and around kelp beds
Right or left handed (keep a favorite
rock under their armpit)
Lack a layer of blubber
Fur – densest fur of any marine
mammal
• Human 30,000 hairs per square
inch
• German shepherd 40,000 hairs per
square inch
• Otter – 1,000,000 hairs per square
inch
Otter’s cont’d
• They blow bubbles into their fur
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for insulation and to help them float.
Food – They eat sea urchins, mussels, crabs and other
invertebrates. They must eat 7-9 kg. per day because they
have a high metabolism (helps keep them warm).
Reproduction
• Most breed and give birth in the water
• Pups weigh 4-5 lbs. at birth
Pups cannot dive by themselves until they are 2-3 months
old.
When sea otters are alarmed or frightened, they hold up their
paws and hiss!
Almost slaughtered to extinction until protected in 1911.
Polar Bears
• Characteristics
• Largest predator in
the world
• Live in the Arctic
• Can swim up to 60 miles without stopping to
rest – this may take 3-4 days.
• They can do 50 foot dives.
• Eat seals which they stalk and capture when
they surface to breathe.
• They spend the winter in dens
Polar Bears, Cont’d
• Reproduction/Offspring
• Cubs are born in the winter
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in a den
• They weigh 1 pound at birth
• Don’t leave the den for 3 months
• Stay with mother for 3 years
Adaptations
• white fur – to help camouflage
• black skin – to help trap heat
hair is a hollow tube to help funnel
sunlight to skin.
Manatees and Dugongs
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Characteristics
Order Sirenia – means mermaids
Relative of the elephant – called sea cows
Large lips to feed on sea grass - herbivores
Reproduce slowly – 1 calf every 3 years
Many are damaged by speed boats so speed
limit laws have been passed in their habitats.
Scars are visible on their backs.
Manatee- can reach
15 feet/1,320 lbs
Dugong – can reach
10 feet/930 lbs