List of Water Mammals

Bottlenose Dolphin

• The bottlenose dolphin is likely one of the most well-known species of dolphin. Upon reaching adulthood, this dolphin reaches a length of eight to 12 feet and can reach a weight of 1,430 pounds, with males being substantially larger than females. They range in color from light to dark gray and their most distinguishing feature is their short-beaked nose. The bottlenose dolphin lives in a variety of temperate and tropical waters worldwide, including bays, oceans and rivers. They are social animals that typically live in packs of 10 to 30 members and they work with the members of their pack to hunt and catch prey--which consists of fish, squid and small crustaceans. This dolphin is extremely intelligent and is capable of communicating with one another via squeaks and whistles. While they are able to dive to great depths in the water, they do require oxygen to breath. In order to obtain oxygen, they surface the water and breathe in air through their blowholes located on their backs. While this animal does not have any known natural predators, it is subject to being killed inadvertently by humans, as they can be caught in fishing nets. Additionally, there have been cases of the dolphin being hunted by humans.

Blue Whale

• Weighing in at nearly 200 tons and measuring almost 100 feet long, the blue whale is the largest animal on earth. These whales are a bluish gray in color and have long, lean bodies. Their diet is made up solely of krill--a small crustacean ingested by straining them out of the water with the baleen in the whale's mouth. Blue whales are found in all of the earth's oceans--feeding at the polar ice caps in the summer and migrating to the warmer waters of the equator during the winter. They typically travel alone or in pairs, but occasionally may travel in small groups. Blue whales are also the loudest animals on earth, making moans and groans that are used for communication with one another and also to act as sonar to guide them through the water. Like bottlenose dolphins, blue whales breathe in oxygen through blowholes on their backs. In the 1900's, these creatures were hunted by man to near extinction. Today, they are a protected species and though they do not have any natural predators, they are sometimes attacked by killer whales and sharks or are killed by run-ins with large ships.

Manatee

• Manatees, also called "sea cows," are aquatic mammals that are actually related to the elephant. They have a face that resembles a walrus with the face of a pig. They are grayish-brown in color and measure approximately 10 feet long and weigh about 800 to 1,200 pounds. They have two front flippers and a flat tail that they use simultaneously to guide them through the water. These animals live in warm, shallow waters of bays, estuaries, canals and coastal areas, mainly near the continental United States and Central and South America. Their diet consists solely of aquatic plant life. They spend most of their time traveling and eating. Manatees actually have nostrils that they use to breathe in air at the surface of the water. They do not have natural predators, but do suffer from human-related fatalities, including being hit by watercrafts and being caught in canal locks, or by ingesting litter.