Questions to Research
- Select one species from the family phocidea. Describe the details of their geographic range, feeding strategies, breeding behaviors.
- Select one species from the family otaridea. Describe the details of their geographic range, feeding strategies, breeding behaviors
- Compare and contrast the ways seals and sea lions move (both in the water and out of it).
- Clip of a stellar sea lion walking.
- Clip of stellar sea lion swimming.
- Clip of a harbor seal moving on land and in water
- All sea lions and several species of seals come on land to give birth and nurse their young. Go to the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics (TOPP) page for elephant seals. Examine the arrows on the map to see where these species are during different times of the year. What time of the year do they have their pups on the beaches of Ano Neuvo (Central California)?
- Read the story How to Tag an Elephant Seal. Do your best to summarize the process.
- Males elephant seals can grow up to ten times larger than females. A dominant alpha male may have as many as one hundred females in his harem. Sub-dominant males will frequently challenge dominant males which occasionally results in loud and violent battles. Read a description of their reproduction strategies, watch some video of two males battling and explain what the term sexual dimorphism means.
- What does a walrus eat and what does it use its huge tusks for? Click on the link, if you want you can watch a video of it.
- Listen to the narrated photo journal about polar bears. When do polar bears mate? When and for how long to polar bears come on land to den? What do they eat while on land?
- What is the marine mammal protection act? What is the endangered species act? Write compare and contrast statements that examine the similarities and differences.
- Several of the marine mammals mentioned on this assignment are facing serious decline in Alaska, for reasons that are not always very clear. Select one of the following and explain some of the possible reasons for their decline.