Marine Mammal Species Fact Sheets

from Sarasota Dolphin Research Program by Blair Irvine

While we love our bottlenose dolphins, we also support education about other marine mammal species.

Interested?

If so, check out the Species Fact Sheets on the website of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the world’s largest association of marine mammal scientists, students, and interested members of the public.

There’s a ton of interesting facts about each species on the Fact Sheets.
The list of 37 species includes dolphins, porpoises, whales, seals, sea lions, manatees and dugongs.


Each Fact Sheet has been prepared by scientists, but written for non-scientists. There’s an illustration of the species with a size comparison to a human diver (see above), and a global range map too.

Each Fact Sheet includes natural history, ecology and behavior, conservation issues, and much more. There’s also a place on the website where you can find out the names of all of the different marine mammals currently recognized as different species or subspecies by scientists.

If you have always wondered about a particular marine mammal, this is the place to go.
For instance, in preparing this post, I happened upon a short description of humpback whale breaching (in the Fact sheet just above Life History). There’s also a bit of information about what’s known about “why” they breach.
Why humpbacks breach is something I’ve wondered about before, so I found it interesting. No, I’m not going to give it away to you. But I will tell you that there’s still a lot to be learned.

Want to learn even more about marine mammals?
The Society for Marine Mammalogy’s Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals will be held in Tampa, Florida, during November 26 – December 2, 2011. The theme for this year’s conference is: “Cumulative effects of threats to marine mammals: Challenges to animals, scientists, and managers.” More than 2,000 attendees are expected.

The conference provides an unparalleled learning opportunity for participants to obtain updates on the latest methods and findings from marine mammal research and conservation activities around the world.

Pre-conference workshops offer unique opportunities to learn about current techniques and pressing issues from the experts. The Conference will include spoken and poster presentations, student and presentation awards, and special evening events.
There will be four concurrent sessions to allow as many spoken presentations as possible, and sufficient space will be available for posters to remain displayed throughout the conference.

SMM is also planning to post pdf files of the posters on their website. For more information on registering go to the conference website.