Marine Mammals - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Dec 1, 2020 · Marine mammals are warm-blooded vertebrates (animals with a backbone) that bear live young and nourish them with milk as land mammals do, but that spend most or all of their lives in the ocean. They are broken into three groups that share similar adaptations to their aquatic life, but that have very different origins and life patterns.
Seal Facts - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Apr 11, 2024 · Seals are pinnipeds, a group of animals with three separate families—phocidae (eared seals), otaridae (non-eared seals), and odobenidae (walruses)—that are the only mammals that feed in the water and breed on land. Where do they come from? Evidence suggests that pinnipeds evolved from a bear-like land animal that hunted in the water for food.
How Do Marine Mammals Avoid the Bends?
Apr 25, 2018 · Deep-diving whales and other marine mammals can get the bends - the same painful and potentially life-threatening decompression sickness that strikes scuba divers who surface too quickly. A new study offers a hypothesis of how marine mammals generally avoid getting the bends and how they can succumb under stressful conditions.
How do manatees stay hydrated? - Woods Hole Oceanographic …
Water, water everywhere! Any to drink? Marine Ecology Progress Series. An isotopic assessment of the feeding habits of free-ranging manatees. Animal Diversity Web. Sirenia: dugongs, manatees, and sea cows. Journal of Experimental Biology. Osmoregulation in Marine Mammals
How to See What Whales Hear - Woods Hole Oceanographic …
Apr 19, 2005 · Most mammals hear frequencies well above the range of human hearing, termed ultrasonics. Some also hear well at very low frequencies, even at seismic sounds generated by earthquakes. To study both normal and abnormal hearing, our laboratory has used the scanner to image all parts of the auditory system of more than 30 species of marine mammals.
The Deepest Divers - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Jul 3, 2007 · For years, sperm whales and elephant seals were thought to hold world records for holding their breath under water. But those animals have nothing on beaked whales. Using digital tags temporarily suction-cupped to two species of beaked whales, researchers led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tracked Cuvier’s beaked…
How marine mammal ears are different from ours
This plug is thought to transmit sound to the inner ear from the water. Because the density of the plug is the same as the water, baleen whales are probably deaf in air. But the differences don't end there. Marine mammals also need a streamlined head for fast and easy movement through water that external ears would impede.
The Sound of Sonar and the Fury about Whale Strandings
Feb 15, 2008 · Eight years ago, several U.S. Navy destroyers used sonar in the Bahamas during routine training exercises. Within 36 hours, 17 animals—including 14 beaked whales, one of the world’s deepest-diving whale species—were found on three islands nearby. Ten of the animals eventually refloated or were pushed back into the water, their…
Marine Mammal Acoustics - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
In a relatively short period of time, scientists have learned much about the vocalizations of marine mammals. They must rely on many technologies to track and record marine mammals. Their tools include radio tags, acoustic tags (with transponders), satellite tags, hydrophones, and vocalights (developed by Tyack).
Study Examines How Diving Marine Mammals Manage …
Dec 21, 2011 · How do marine mammals, whose very survival depends on regular diving, manage to avoid decompression sickness? Do they, indeed, avoid it? A workshop held by WHOI's Marine Mammal Center brought together the world's experts in human diving and marine-mammal diving physiology to discuss the issue of how marine mammals manage…