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The orca, or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus and is recognizable by its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, it is found in diverse marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
The narwhal is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus Monodon and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal has a similar build to the closely related beluga whale, with which it overlaps in range and can interbreed. It is a stocky cetacean with a relatively blunt snout, a large melon, and a shallow ridge in place of a dorsal fin. Males of this species have a large 1.5–3.0 m long tusk, which is a left protruded canine thought to serve as a weapon or as a tool for feeding, attracting mates or sensing water salinity. Specially adapted slow-twitch muscles, along with the jointed neck vertebrae and shallow dorsal ridge allow for easy movement through the Arctic environment, where the narwhal spends extended periods at great depths.
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine environments for feeding and survival.
Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, with 34 extant species and more than 50 extinct species described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic group. Pinnipeds belong to the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora; their closest living relatives are musteloids, having diverged about 50 million years ago.
Channel Islands National Park is a national park of the United States, which consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populated state, they have been relatively undeveloped. The park covers 249,561 acres (100,994 ha), of which 79,019 acres (31,978 ha) are federal land.
The leopard seal, also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic. Its only natural predator is the orca. It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, fish, and birds, particularly penguins. It is the only species in the genus Hydrurga. Its closest relatives are the Ross seal, the crabeater seal and the Weddell seal, which together are known as the tribe of Lobodontini seals. The name hydrurga means "water worker" and leptonyx is the Greek for "thin-clawed".
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica.
The Antarctic fur seal is one of eight seals in the genus Arctocephalus, and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. Despite what its name suggests, the Antarctic fur seal is mostly distributed in Subantarctic islands and its scientific name is thought to have come from the German vessel SMS Gazelle, which was the first to collect specimens of this species from Kerguelen Islands.
The Weddell seal is a relatively large and abundant true seal with a circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by British sealing captain James Weddell to the area of the Southern Ocean now known as the Weddell Sea. The life history of this species is well documented since it occupies fast ice environments close to the Antarctic continent and often adjacent to Antarctic bases. It is the only species in the genus Leptonychotes.
The Alaska SeaLife Center is a public aquarium and Alaska's only permanent marine mammal rehabilitation facility. It is located on the shores of Resurrection Bay in Seward. It opened in May 1998, and is dedicated to understanding and maintaining the integrity of the marine ecosystem of Alaska through research, rehabilitation, conservation, and public education. It is the only facility in the world specifically dedicated to studying the northern marine environment and the only one designed at the outset to combine research with public education and visitor components. The Alaska SeaLife Center generates and shares scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska's marine ecosystems.
The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) is a private, non-profit U.S. organization that was established in 1975 for the purpose of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing marine mammals who are injured, sick or abandoned. It was founded in Sausalito, California, by Lloyd Smalley, Pat Arrigoni and Paul Maxwell. Since 1975, TMMC has rescued over 24,000 marine mammals. It also serves as a center for environmental research and education regarding marine mammals, namely cetaceans, pinnipeds, otters and sirenians. Marine mammal abandonment refers to maternal separation; pups that have been separated from their mother before weaning. At the center, they receive specialized veterinary care: they are diagnosed, treated, rehabilitated and ideally, released back into the wild. Animals in need of assistance are usually identified by a member of the public who has contacted the center. These animals represent the following major species: California sea lions, northern elephant seals, Pacific harbor seals, northern fur seals, Guadalupe fur seals, Hawaiian monk seals, and southern sea otters. On a few occasions, TMMC has taken in Steller sea lions and bottlenose/Pacific white-sided dolphins. The only non-mammals that TMMC takes in are sea turtles.
The Coastal Science Campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz consists of five main institutions: UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, UC Santa Cruz's Coastal Biology Building, the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, and the California Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center.
Bernd Gerhard Würsig is an educator and researcher who works mainly on aspects of behavior and behavioral ecology of whales and dolphins. Much of his early work was done in close collaboration with his wife Melany Ann Würsig, and they have published numerous manuscripts and books together. He is now Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University, teaching only occasionally but still involved with graduate student and other research. He is especially active with problems and potential solutions concerning Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis, in and surrounding waters of Hong Kong.
Kenneth Stafford Norris was an American marine mammal biologist, conservationist, naturalist, and co-founder of SeaWorld.
Marine mammals are a food source in many countries around the world. Historically, they were hunted by coastal people, and in the case of aboriginal whaling, still are. This sort of subsistence hunting was on a small scale and produced only localised effects. Dolphin drive hunting continues in this vein, from the South Pacific to the North Atlantic. The commercial whaling industry and the maritime fur trade, which had devastating effects on marine mammal populations, did not focus on the animals as food, but for other resources, namely whale oil and seal fur.
Randall William Davis is an American educator and researcher who studies the physiology and behavioral ecology of marine mammals and other aquatic vertebrates. His physiological research focuses on adaptations of marine mammals for deep, prolonged diving. Davis has continually emphasized the importance of studying aquatic animals in their natural environment and has spent many years developing animal-borne instruments that record video and monitor three-dimensional movements, swimming performance and environmental variables to better understand their behavior and ecology. His academic endeavors and 94 research expeditions have taken him to 64 countries and territories on seven continents and all of the world's oceans.
References
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- 1 2 3 Fearnley, Kirstin (August 6, 2015). "Spotlight on Science Writers: Terrie Williams". American Association for the Advancement of Science . Retrieved December 15, 2024.
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- ↑ Lombardi, Linda (February 13, 2018). "Animal Trainers Gone Wild". Hakai magazine . Retrieved December 18, 2024.
- ↑ Khan, Amina (December 8, 2017). "In the face of a threat, narwhals respond in just about the worst possible way". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ↑ Beurteaux, Danielle (May 29, 2017). "Some Dolphins Are Bad Divers". Hakai magazine . Retrieved December 20, 2024.
- ↑ Stephens, Tim (March 24, 2014). "Exxon Valdez oil spill was a turning point for biologist Terrie Williams". University of California, Santa Cruz . Retrieved December 20, 2024.
- 1 2 Kustra, Bob (August 26, 2016). "Marine Biologist Terrie Williams And The Inspiring "Odyssey Of KP2"". Boise State Public Radio . Retrieved December 21, 2024.
- ↑ Stephens, Tim (December 10, 2020). "What dolphins can teach us about surviving COVID-19". University of California . Retrieved December 21, 2024.
- ↑ "Dogs, cats, and big-wave surfers: Healthy heart lessons from animals and athletes" (Press release). Eurekalert. September 1, 2015. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
- ↑ "Six Alumni Honored in Annual Awards Ceremony". Rutgers University . May 6, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ↑ Svitil, Kathy A. (November 1, 2002). "The 50 Most Important Women in Science". Discover magazine . Retrieved December 20, 2024.
- ↑ Terrie Bluff USGS.
- ↑ Baum, Joan (March 2007). "Women Shaping History: Women of Valor". Education Update . Retrieved December 21, 2024.
