### animal | vertebrate | mammal:

Marine mammal
* All marine mammals have physiological adaptations for diving.
* All marine mammals have special physiological adaptations during a dive
  - adaptations used during a dive
  - adaptations when they dive
* Many marine mammals echolocate by analyzing the echo of sound waves they emit
  - live in very cold water
* Most marine mammals adapt to water
  - are highly social, living in groups at least part of the time
  - avoid attacks
* Most marine mammals belong to families
  - the Order Cetacea, which includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises
  - come in contact
  - consume food
* Most marine mammals have characteristics
  - heads
  - lifespans
  - physiological responses
  - short lifespans
  - hear sound
  - inhabit areas
  - produce milk
  - show development
  - use melatonin
  - weigh kgs
* Some marine mammals eat krill.
* Some marine mammals feed on bluefin tuna
  - fish
* Some marine mammals have flippers
  - levels
  - physical disabilities that impact their survival in the wild
  - reproductive tracts
  - ingest larvae
* Some marine mammals inhabit oceans
  - pacific oceans
* Some marine mammals live in cold water
  - freeze water
  - lagoons
  - saltwaters
  - shallow lagoons
  - use estuaries
* acquire water from three sources.
* appear to be less disturbed by vessels that are traveling in a predictable manner.
* are able to use sensory processes to an extent that still remains a mystery.
* are also susceptible to viral infections
  - very adept at imitating sounds
  - among the most privileged yet beleaguered of creatures in America today
* are animals that are warm-blooded with back bones that live in water
  - spend the majority of their lives in or near the sea
  - aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean for their existence
  - better off in some ways
  - fast swimmers and strong hunters
  - fragile indicator species
  - mammals that are well adapted for life in the marine environment
* are mammals that have adapted to life in the ocean
  - adapted, or adjusted, to life in the ocean
  - our closest relatives living in the sea
  - part of the living resources of the ocean ecosystems
  - plentiful, including whales, seals, porpoise and birds
  - under threat as the ice pack on which they hunt and breed melts away
  - warm-blooded sea animals such as whales, dolphins and seals
  - well adapted to their hyperosmotic environment
* breed very poorly in captivity with very high infant death rates.
* can bite and transmit disease
  - have substantially different vibrissal arrangements
  - offer great photo opportunities
* depend upon sound to communicate.
* die of everything from poisons in their blood to gunshot wounds.
* do have adaptations that prevent nitrogen from dis- solving in the blood.
* experience problems.
* get air holes get clogged so they can drowned
  - themselves caught in the fishermen's nets and are drowned
* have a higher concentration of the oxygen-binding protein myoglobin in the muscles
  - adaptations that reduce oxygen con- sumption in addition to increasing supply
* have excellent auditory senses
  - underwater vision for finding prey
  - kidneys
  - no outer ear
  - relatively low rates of net reproduction
  - sensitive hearing and many species communicate by vocalizing underwater
  - some of the most efficient kidneys known
  - to contend with the polluted waters off the coastline
  - various adaptations as well
* hunt for food
* include bottlenose dolphins
* live much or all their lives in water.
* spend a lot of time along the shoreline, as well.