Marine Mammals Essay

We share this planet with so many other species, living both on land and water. Similar to us humans there are mammals like monkeys living on land and whales living in sea. Whales are not the only mammals living in the sea, there are dolphins, walruses, seals etc. Though above mentioned beings don’t fall under a single biological group, they are categorized as marine mammals due to their dependence on the sea for existence.

Whales and dolphins completely depend on the sea for feeding and breeding whereas seals and walruses feed in the sea and breed on the land. The distribution of the marine mammal species in diverse and patchy, but a majority of the marine mammals live near the 40 degree latitude north and south. This diverse nature is due to the fact that marine mammals’ existence depends on the richness of the oceans; their existence also increases the productivity of the oceans. The distribution of marine mammals coincides with the areas of the oceans that are affected by humans which are of a great concern.

Marine mammals have evolved in many ways to overcome the challenges which are faced while living in the sea, these features are species specific in most of the cases. Many features were changed and developed for efficient locomotion, reduction of heat loss etc. Features like modified limbs, tail shape evolved to help in efficiently maneuvering the body while swimming and increase the balance. Marine mammals are mostly hypo osmotic and tend to loose water to their surrounding environment, to overcome this adversity they use their highly efficient kidneys which have evolved to retain water and concentrate the urine.

Living in the sea means a lot of diving, as the marine mammals share the ocean with many other creatures the ...

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...anging prey distribution and also needed a few changes to be made to their migration routes and breeding sites.

Many marine mammal species like the whales are nearing extinction due to many activities performed by humans. If we continue to hunt, pollute and interfere with the nature and marine mammals’ natural habitat then the day is not far when we are going to see whales and other mammals in pictures and videos rather than in their natural abodes. Small changes in our lifestyle can make a huge change in the life of many of our cohabiting living creatures, discouraging the use of stuff made out of whale skin, reducing the usage of plastic, trying to do our part in reducing the greenhouse gases etc. will help a lot in making a change on the planet we are dwelling. If we continue to do what we are doing, our planet may not look Green and Blue from the space anymore.