Marine mammal facts for kids

Humpback whale

Marine mammals are mammals that depend on the ocean and other marine ecosystems to live. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears.

Cetaceans are fully aquatic. Seals and sea-lions are semiaquatic. They spend the most of their time in the water but need to return to land to mate, breed and molt. Some marine mammals eat zooplankton, others eat fish, squid, shellfish, or sea grass, and a few eat other mammals.

Images for kids

A leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)
Illustration of †Prorastomus, an early sirenian (40 mya)
Marine mammal species richness: A) All species (n = 115), B) toothed whales (n = 69), C) baleen whales (n = 14), D) seals (n = 32), based on data from 1990 to 1999
Killer whale hunting a Weddel seal
Sea otters have dexterous hands which they use to smash sea urchins off rocks
A dugong feeding on the sea-floor
Historical and modern range of northern sea otters
Map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows projected changes in polar bear habitat from 2005 to 2095. Red areas indicate loss of optimal polar bear habitat; blue areas indicate gain.
An adult and sub-adult Minke whale are dragged aboard the Nisshin Maru, a Japanese whaling vessel
Pilot whale meat (bottom), blubber (middle) and dried fish (left) with potatoes, Faroe Islands
Performing killer whale at SeaWorld San Diego, 2009
A sea lion trained to balance a ball on its nose
A dolphin wearing a locating pinger, performing mine clearance work in the Iraq War