News tagged with marine mammal
Fossil footprints give land vertebrates a much longer history
The discovery of fossil footprints from early backboned land animals in Poland leads to the sensational conclusion that our ancestors left the water at least 18 million years earlier than previously thought. ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jan 06, 2010 |
4.8 / 5 (16) |
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Scientists discover megalodon shark nursery
(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Florida researchers have discovered a 10-million-year-old Neotropical nursery area for the extinct megalodon shark in Panama, providing fossil evidence the fish used these areas ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 11, 2010 |
4.8 / 5 (13) |
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Whales closer to us than thought, say scientists
As the future of whales once more comes under global debate, some scientists say the marine mammals are not only smarter than thought but also share several attributes once claimed as exclusively human.
Jun 20, 2010 |
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Whale poop pumps up ocean health
Whale feces -- should you be forced to consider such matters -- probably conjure images of, well, whale-scale hunks of crud, heavy lumps that sink to the bottom. But most whales actually deposit waste that floats at the surface ...
Oct 12, 2010 |
5 / 5 (10) |
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Whales in the desert: Fossil bonanza poses mystery
(AP) -- More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 19, 2011 |
4.7 / 5 (10) |
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Famous San Francisco sea lions leave in droves
(AP) -- Two mysteries surround a huge herd of sea lions that were hanging out on a pier in San Francisco Bay: Why did so many show up, and why did so many leave at once?
Dec 30, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (10) |
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Illegal trade in whale meat points to Japan: DNA study
An international team of Oregon State University scientists, documentary filmmakers and environmental advocates has uncovered an apparent illegal trade in whalemeat, linking whales killed in Japan's controversial ...
Apr 13, 2010 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
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Hawaiian Islands named habitat for endangered seal
(AP) -- The federal government on Friday will significantly expand the critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals to include beaches and waters of the main Hawaiian Islands, officials said.
Jun 12, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
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Scientists stunned as grey whale sighted off Israel
The appearance of a grey whale off the coast of Israel has stunned scientists, in what was thought to be the first time the giant mammal has been seen outside the Pacific in several hundred years.
May 11, 2010 |
3.6 / 5 (11) |
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New study finds dolphins produce sounds in a similar way to humans
(PhysOrg.com) -- It has long been thought that dolphins produce sounds by means of "whistles," but a new analysis of a data gathered in the late 1970s has revealed that instead, dolphins make sounds by means ...
Sep 09, 2011 |
5 / 5 (8) |
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Animal diseases increasingly plague the oceans
When dead sea mammals started washing ashore on Canada's west coast in greater numbers, marine biologist Andrew Trites was distressed to find that domestic animal diseases were killing them.
Feb 20, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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Harvesting of small fish species should be cut: study
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research on the fishing of small fish species near the bottom of their food chains suggests harvesting at levels previously thought to be sustainable could have devastating effects on ...
Jul 22, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
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Albatross camera reveals fascinating feeding interaction with killer whale
Scientists from British Antarctic Survey, National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, and Hokkaido University, Japan, have recorded the first observations of how albatrosses feed alongside marine mammals ...
Oct 07, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (7) |
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Thousands of shellfish found dead in Peru
Thousands of crustaceans were found dead off the coast of Lima following the mystery mass death of dolphins and pelicans, the Peruvian Navy said Friday.
May 26, 2012 |
4.7 / 5 (7) |
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Scientists worry about ocean energy's effect on sea-creature migration
Without maps or GPS, great white sharks travel thousand of miles roundtrip from California to Hawaii or Australia to South Africa. Sea turtles hatched on the beaches of Florida travel the currents of the North Atlantic Gyre ...
Dec 28, 2010 |
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Marine mammal
Marine mammals are a diverse group of roughly 120 species of mammal that are primarily ocean-dwelling or depend on the ocean for food. They include the cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), the sirenians (manatees and dugong), the pinnipeds (true seals, eared seals and walrus), and several otters (the sea otter and marine otter). The polar bear, while not aquatic, is also usually considered a marine mammal because it lives on sea ice for most or all of the year.
Marine mammals evolved from land dwelling ancestors and share several adaptive features for life at sea such as generally large size, hydrodynamic body shapes, modified appendages and various thermoregulatory adaptations. Different species are, however, adapted to marine life to varying degrees. The most fully adapted are the cetaceans and the sirenians, which cannot live on land.
Despite the fact that marine mammals are highly recognizable charismatic megafauna, many populations are vulnerable or endangered due to a history of commercial exploitation for blubber, meat, ivory and fur. Most species are currently protected from commercial exploitation.
For more information about Marine mammal, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
