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Ocean Wild Things

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

Bones: water living changes bones

February 19, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Here I thought that reading the section on bones in the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals would bore me to tears. And well let’s just be honest, some of it was definitely sleep inducing. Until I came to the part about “two very different trends in bone architecture and histology.” OK, stay with me now, I… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, elephant seal, pinniped, porpoise, sea lion, seal, walrus, whale

Behavior in marine mammals

January 28, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

As fellow mammals, marine mammals spend a lot of time doing the same things we do. Shopping or hunting for food, eating, finding a mate, having sex, raising young, traveling and escaping bad guys are all activities occupying the time of marine mammals across the globe. But we have adapted to solid ground under our… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Marine mammals, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, echolocation, seal, whale

Bearded Seals: singing for love

January 27, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

As Valentine’s Day fast approaches, some of the men out there may want to take a few notes on how male bearded seals attract the ladies. These cumbersome looking marine mammals actually woo their women with song! According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, the songs of the bearded seal can make the heart ache.… [read more]

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

Bearded Seals: sweet whiskers

January 27, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 4 Comments

The bearded seal or Erignathus barbatus is the Santa Claus of seals with fabulously long whiskers that curl a bit when dry. And how fitting since they live not far from the North Pole at the edge of the sea ice that extends in all directions from this northern most point. But the whiskers of… [read more]

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

Baculum: the penis bone

January 10, 2010 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

Walrus baculum, 22 inches long The “B” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals launches with an article by Edward Miller on the baculum. The baculum is a bone located in the penis of several species. For marine mammals this includes polar bears, sea otters, seals, sea lions and walruses. Bacula (plural of baculum) come… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions Tagged With: anatomy, fissiped, pinniped, polar bear, sea lion, seal, sex, walrus

Arctic Marine Mammals

December 24, 2009 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with a post about all the fabulous marine mammals hanging out near the North Pole? The Arctic hosts a variety of marine mammals including eight species of pinnipeds (several seals, walruses), three cetaceans (bowhead, beluga and narwhal whales) and one fissiped (polar bears). (For me, fissiped is… [read more]

Filed Under: Marine mammals, Seals, sea lions, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, fissiped, pinniped, polar bear, seal, walrus, whale

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