MCQ
What is the thick layer of fat called that marine mammals like whales and seals use to trap heat and stay warm in freezing ocean water?
A. Skin
B. Blubber
C. Fur
D. Scales
B. Blubber
Describe how a mother whale nurses her calf underwater without losing all her milk into the sea.
Marine mammal milk is incredibly thick and high in fat. The mother actively squirts the milk directly into the calf’s mouth so it doesn't dissolve in the saltwater.
An organisms' ability to maintain a constant & stable internal temperature regardless of the outside environment.
What is homeothermic?
The taxonomic order including whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
What is Cetacea?
Read
Read the question so you can understand it.
When a dolphin comes to the surface of the ocean to breathe, it opens its blowhole. What body part is the blowhole actually a modification of?
A. Mouth
B. Gills
C. Nostrils
D. Ears
C. Nostrils
Explain why marine mammals cannot use gills like fish do, and why they must return to the surface to breathe.
Marine mammals are true mammals, meaning they have lungs and must breathe atmospheric oxygen from the air. Gills only work for pulling dissolved oxygen out of the water, which isn't enough to power a warm-blooded mammal.
Marine mammals experience this going on extended dives.
What is bradycardia?
The iron and oxygen binding protein that is highly concentrated when found in the muscle tissue of deep-diving marine animals.
What is myoglobin?
Key Words
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Which of these marine mammals is famous for diving the deepest and staying underwater the longest to hunt for deep-sea squid?
A. The Bottlenose Dolphin
B. The West Indian Manatee
C. The Cuvier's Beaked Whale
D. The Sea Otter
C. The Cuvier's Beaked Whale
What is "the bends" (decompression sickness), and how do marine mammals naturally avoid getting it when they rush up from a deep dive?
The bends happen when nitrogen gas forms dangerous bubbles in the blood from changing pressure too fast. Marine mammals avoid this by collapsing their lungs before a deep dive, which stops the nitrogen from entering their bloodstream in the first place.
Animals that only eat plants.
What are herbivores?
Special web of blood vessels acting as a heat exchanger, trapping warmth in the mammals' core.
What is the rete mirable?
Vocabulary
Pull out any familiar vocabulary from the question. With unfamiliar vocabulary, make an inference depending on the question.
Sirenians, such as the dugong, spend most of their days grazing in shallow coastal waters. What is their primary source of food?
A. Small fish
B. Crabs and clams
C. Seagrass
D. Jellyfish
C. Seagrass
Describe the physical differences in how a whale uses its tail to swim compared to how a fish uses its tail.
A whale moves its tail flukes up and down to propel itself through the water, while a fish moves its tail fin side to side.
Dolphins use this to map out surroundings and find prey.
What is echolocation?
Bristly, comb-like plates made of keratin that large whales use to filter tiny krill and plankton out of the seawater.
What are baleen plates?
Do Practice Papers
Use the practice papers given in class to help understand the structure and material of the exam.
How do most pelagic marine mammals get the fresh water they need to survive without dehydrating from drinking the salty ocean?
A. They absorb fresh water through their skin.
B. They get it directly from the food they eat (like fish and krill).
C. They swim to rivers every day to take a drink.
D. They have special gills that filter out the salt.
B. They get it directly from the food they eat.
State one major human threat to marine mammals in coastal zones and explain how it harms them.
Boat strikes are a massive threat in shallow coastal areas. Fast-moving boats can run over slow marine mammals, like manatees, causing severe injuries or death from the boat's propeller blades.
Many baleen whales are often found in this region of the ocean, it is very a open portion of the ocean.
What is pelagic?
The family for "true seals" who have no external ear flaps and have to scoot on their bellies when they are on land.
What is Phocidae?
Label Information
Label all necessary information in questions involving graphs and definitions.