Photo provided by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Monk Seal

Marine Mammals

Although marine mammals spend much of their time in the ocean, they are warm blooded, give live births, nurse their young, have traces of hair or fur and must come to the surface to breathe air into their lungs. Scientists believe that millions of years ago the ancestors of marine mammals lived on land, then went into the ocean. Over time these ancestors changed or adapted to their new ocean environment.

Courtesy of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Photo by National Marine Fisheries Service

Dolphins

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