• Home
  • About
  • Marine mammals
    • Dolphins
    • Porpoises
    • Seals, sea lions
    • Whales
  • Phenomena
    • Climate change
    • Invasive species
    • Pollution
    • Oceanography
  • Inspiration
    • Animal encounters
    • Earth musings
    • Easy Reader columns
    • Ocean heroes
    • Photography
    • Writing & Poetry
  • Happenings
    • Consumer Alerts
    • Ocean events
  • Resources
  • Contact

Ocean Wild Things

Northern elephant seals heading home

June 7, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

What better way to start the week than by watching a heart warming video of two northern elephant seals heading back to the ocean. The two stars of this video were rescued as pups by the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, rehabilitated and just released on the beach. One of the seals is… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: elephant seal, pinniped, rescue, seal

Sea lions, weasels and bears oh my!

May 17, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

Classifying animals is a messy business. Back in the day before genetic analysis, seals, sea lions and walruses were classified as members of the order Pinnipedia. They were considered to be “separate from but closely related to the terrestrial carnivores of the order Carnivora” as told by the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. And of course… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: pinniped, sea lion, seal, walrus

Classifying marine mammals, clades shmades

May 13, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

As of the writing of this post, there are four clades of marine mammals. Things could change if some crazy fossil is found that alters all current knowledge, but for now we only have to know about four clades. Now is a good time to explain what a clade is. According to the fabulous glossary… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, dugong, manatee, pinniped, porpoise, sea lion, seal, sirenian, walrus, whale

Windkessel

May 7, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Well, some of the “C” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals is serious science, so much so that it can be extremely mind numbing to read. This holds true for the article titled Circulatory System. So instead of getting into the nitty gritty details of the anterior vena cava or the hepatic sinus, I’m… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: elephant seal, pinniped, seal

Oceans movie is worth seeing

May 3, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

I don’t dare post the actual Oceans poster image for fear of being sued by Disney, but I have to say the movie is definitely worth seeing on the big screen. There is amazing underwater footage of sea creatures you will most likely never have the chance to see and of course many great shots… [read more]

Filed Under: Do Something, Marine mammals, Ocean events Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, pinniped, pollution, porpoise, sea lion, seal, walrus, whale

Historical note on the northern elephant seal

April 11, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

One important fact that I didn’t have room to mention in my column on elephant seals is that they too were victims of exploitation, I’m talking major exploitation. According to the book Elephant Seals by Carole and Phil Adams, “by the end of the 1880s elephant seals were thought to be extinct, due to the… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: elephant seal, extinct, pinniped, seal, sealing

Elephant seals: ocean aliens have landed!

April 9, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

Picture an elephant crossed with a seal and add in a little “District 9” alien. The result: the male northern elephant seal or Mirounga angustirostris. The elephant part of the description helps convey the sheer mass of the male elephant seal, plus the shape of its nose. According to the book Elephant Seals by Carole… [read more]

Filed Under: Easy Reader columns, Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: courtship, elephant seal, pinniped, seal, sex, sexual dimorphism

4 main types of cetacean prey

April 6, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

1. The first types of prey that many cetaceans prefer are tiny critters that form large schools closer to the surface. This includes several types of crustaceans (krill) and small fish (sardines, anchovies). And ironically enough, the largest whales prefer this type of dinner and have a built-in filter system called baleen that allows them… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Marine mammals, Porpoises, Whales Tagged With: baleen, cetacean, crustacean, dolphin, killer whale, krill, pinniped, sea lion, seal, whale

Caspian and Baikal seals

March 24, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

For whatever reason, the editors of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals decided to cover Caspian and Baikal seals together in one article. What do they have in common besides both being seals you ask? Well, it turns out that Caspian and Baikal seals both ended up living along land locked bodies of water. A very… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: pinniped, seal

California, Galapagos and Japanese sea lions

March 17, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

I have finally made it to the “C” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals! Wow, blogging my way through the encyclopedia is going to take awhile. And so the C’s begin with the California, Galapagos and Japanese sea lions. My impression is that they were all grouped together in the C’s because California sea… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: extinct, pinniped, sea lion, sexual dimorphism

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Join the Conversation

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe Via Email

Latest Tweets

  • RT @CabrilloAqua: Join us this Saturday for our monthly Walk Cabrillo! During the coastal park walk you'll visit the native garden, salt ma… 02:04:45 PM March 07, 2023 from Twitter Web App ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @wantokmoana: Halo oloketa! Introducing Sabrina Pania MSc students and an ACAIR scholarship recipient. Sabi is studying the Nutritional… 03:58:25 PM June 14, 2022 from Twitter Web App ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @TXSeaGrant: Approximately 45 Kemp's ridley turtles were discovered hatching on Magnolia Beach. "This has never happened in modern times… 03:57:48 PM June 14, 2022 from Twitter Web App ReplyRetweetFavorite
@oceanwildthings

Archives

Ocean Wild Things | Copyright ©2025 | All Rights Reserved