Marine mammals and their names

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Mammals are a class that has a great variety of species, some with very specific characteristics that differentiate them from the rest. One of the most surprising mammals that we can find are those that live in the sea, since we are used to thinking that mammals are all terrestrial. Due to the curiosity that these animals arouse, today in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about the marine mammals and their names.

Index

1. Marine mammals: main characteristics and classification
2. Order Sirenia
3. Order Cetacea
4. Carnivorous order

Marine mammals are a highly diverse group of more than 100 species of mammals, characterized by having adapted to the life of the sea, or by depending on it for their food.

These mammals have acquired a series of characteristics to be able to adapt their life to the sea, although not all have managed to adapt to the sea equally well. Some of the traits they have achieved for adapt your life to the sea They are:

• Generally larger in size than most mammals.
• A hydrodynamic way to be able to get bigger with greater ease by the sea.
• A very useful way to control the temperature in the sea.

Groups of marine mammals

The more than 100 species that we have talked about before, can be divided into 5 groups, depending on what type of terrestrial species they descend on. The 5 groups are:

• Order Sirenia
• Order Cetacea
• Pinnipedia Superfamily
• Family Ursidae
• Family Mustelidae

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The sirenians are an order of mammals that belong to the superorder of the afroteria, that is, they are distant relatives of elephants. They are the only marine mammals whose diet is herbivorous, and together with cetaceans they are the only mammals that are fully adapted to aquatic life.

Sirenians are large animals, with slow movements. They are also very docile animals, which has made them highly protected species, since they are easy prey for hunters.

In this order there are 4 species, divided into two families:

• On the one hand, it is the dugong family, of which its only surviving species is the dugong, characterized by having a forked tail.
• The other family is that of triquequids, which is the family that is made up of the famous manatees. There are three different species of this family, which are: the Caribbean manatee, the Amazonian manatee, and the African manatee.

Cetaceans are an order of mammals that belong to cetardiodactyls, being distant relatives of camels and deer. They are animals fully adapted to marine life, just like the aforementioned sirenians. It has a body similar to fish, which allows them to move with great speed through the water. The legs that they had centuries ago have become fins, they do not have hair, and a kind of fat surrounds them that serves as a thermal insulator.

Cetaceans are divided into two suborders, and are made up of almost 100 species different:

• One of the suborders is that of the mysticetes, being formed by carnivorous marine mammals that have hairs instead of teeth. Of this suborder 15 species are part, among which we can find the gray whale or the fin whales.
• The other suborder is that of odontocetes, which differ from the mysticetes in that the former have teeth, which is why they are sometimes called toothed cetaceans. They are made up of about 73 species, among which we find dolphins, belugas and killer whales.

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To end this lesson on marine mammals and their names we must talk about the carnivorous order, in which the other three groups that we have mentioned before are encompassed: the superfamily Pinnipedia, the family Ursidae and the family Mustelidae:

• The pinnipeds They are marine mammals with an elongated body, short legs, and palmed hands and feet. They are descendants of a bear-like ancestor, and are made up of almost 40 species different. Some of the species are seals, walruses and otarios.
• The family of Ursidae is the one that is made up of bears, most are terrestrial animals, but the exception is the polar bears, which are considered marine mammals since they tend to live almost all year round in the sea ice and because they are quite adapted to marine life.
• Finally, there is the family of mustelids, animals both marine and terrestrial that inhabit all the continents of the planet. There are two species in this family that are considered marine animals, the sea otter and the sea cat.

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