Marine Mammals

Question 1

How are marine mammals adapted to life at sea?

Answer 1

Thick layer of blubber in most, countercurrent heat exchangers in many

Question 2

What are the major groups of marine mammals?

Answer 2

Pinnepedia, carnivara, sirenia and cetacea

Question 3

How can you distinguish between true seals and sea lions/ fur seals

Answer 3

True seals have no external ear and can not stand on front flippers to walk.

Question 4

Which type of seal is the most abundant?

Answer 4

Crabeater

Question 5

Where do these seals live and what do they feed on? How are their teeth specialized for feeding?

Answer 5

They live in Antarctic and feed on krill using their specialized teeth as a filter to catch the prey

Question 6

Describe the mating system of elephant seals. Why do elephant seals come ashore twice each year? What are they doing each time? Which males get to do most of the mating? How is dominance determined in elephant seals?

Answer 6

Harem mating system like lions; they go on long forages for food; they come once to mate and give birth and the once to molt ; The alpha ; they fight

Question 7

Where do leopard seals live? What do they feed on?

Answer 7

Antarctic ; feed on penguins and krill

Question 8

Where do Weddell seals live? What specialized behaviors are shown by this group to allow them to live along the ice sheets?

Answer 8

Antarctic ; the maintain breathing wholes in the ice

Question 9

Describe feeding behavior in walruses. What do they eat? How do they collect food?

Answer 9

they dig in the ocean floor for bivalves hidden in the sediments

Question 10

Where are polar bears found? What do they feed on? How are they adapted to cold temperatures?

Answer 10

Polar bears live in the north arctic

Has thick layer of blubber to help heat in water and thick fur to help heat on land. They eat ringed and bearded seals

Question 11

How do sea otters stay warm? Remember the importance of sea otters for kelp forest ecosystems

Answer 11

They are key stone elements in the kelp forest by eating the sea urchants
Have a million hairs per square inch

Question 12

What do manatees and dugongs feed on? Where is each found?

Answer 12

they are herbivors and are found in costal regions in the atlantic and indian oceans

Question 13

What adaptations/ physiological changes are seen in marine mammals during dives? How do these changes/ adaptations benefit the animal?

Answer 13

Apneuestic breathing( pausing b/t breahts), Collapsible lungs, large blood volume, O2 storage in hemoglobin and myoglobin, shunting of blood, bradycardia; deal with the pressure of dive and help take long breaths

Question 14

How are cetaceans adapted to a life at sea?

Answer 14

blow holes

Question 15

What are the two major suborders of cetaceans and how are they distinguished from each other?

Answer 15

Two sub orders 
Mysteceti (moustache whales)
Have baleen and are used as a sive that hangs from jaws and use to catch krill
Blow holes have two openings 
Odontoceti (Have teeth)
Have one opening in blow hole

Question 16

What is baleen? What is it used for? Describe the feeding behavior of rorquals and other baleen whales such as the right whale.

Answer 16

It’s like a keratin curtain that hangs in whales mouth and is used to catch krill like a filter. This way the whale just swims along with it’s mouth open.

Question 17

What do baleen and toothed whales eat?

Answer 17

Baleen whales eat krill and toothed whales eat fish and other whales

Question 18

Where did the right whale get its name?

Answer 18

Whalers gave it the name because they were slow swimmers and easy to kill.

Question 19

Describe bubble netting in humpback whales

Answer 19

they all swim around in a circle around prey letting out bubbles that the fish will not cross. at the right moment the alpha whale give the signal for them all to ascend with their mouths open

Question 20

Why do humpback whales sing?

Answer 20

to communicate, for music and mating

Question 21

Give some examples of common toothed whales.

Answer 21

sperm, beluga, narwhal, dolphin, killer and harbour

Question 22

What do toothed whales feed on? How do they use their teeth when feeding? What is echolocation and how is it used? What structures are used in echolocation?

Answer 22

fish and squids; they don’t use them to chew; it is used to locate prey; Mainly done using the melon

Question 23

What is the main difference between dolphins and porpoises?

Answer 23

The dolphin teeth are more conical and porpoise are flattened
The dolphin has longer snout

Question 24

What are narwhals? Where are they found? What is the origin of their tusk (what forms the tusk?) and what is the tusk used for?

Answer 24

It is a toothed whale; found in the arctic; is an oversized tooth; uses it to sense the environment around them

Question 25

Why do sperm whales dive so deep?

Answer 25

the eat the giant and colossal squid

Question 26

What is ambergris

Answer 26

ambergris is the vomet or poop of the the indigestable material from the squids they eat