Eared Seals

If a pinniped has an ear flaps,it is a member of family Otariidae ( oh tar ee'ih day). The name of this family comes from a greek word "little ear". Theses pinnipeds are also called eared seals.Whats the different between sea lions and fur seals? Sea lions have shorter flippers than fur seals. Sea lion's fur is rougher and shorter than a fur seal. in the 1700s and 1800s. It was big business many fur seals were killed for their pelts it wich  almost made them extinct! Sea lions can reach speeds greater than 25 miles per hour when they swim! Some seal lions can go diving  more than 500 feet!


                                Fur seal

                       
                                Sea lion

                                                       

Walrus Family

Did you now there is only one walrus species in the world? And another true fact is that walruses have two large teeth? And have whiskers? Walrus families are called Odobenidae (oh' doh bin uh bin). Walruses have things in common with both true seals and eared seals. For an example, walruses and true seals have holes for their ears without a flap. Their bodies look similar, too.

The walruses' whiskers make then look like old men. Guess what? The walruses are so large they can even way up to 3,000 pounds. Well that's all See the Sea fans for now!

Seals And Sea Cows

Seals are also called sea lions. Sea lions can be found from San Diego to Alaska and in the cooler areas of Australia and New Zealand. Their babies are called pups! They are pinnipeds which means fin-footed. Dangerous things to seals: boat motors, weather and sharks. Seals are a good snack for some other animals.

Sea lion->

           

Echoes to locate

Do remember learning about echolocation when you studied bats? Well just as bats use echolocation to see in the dark toothed whales use echolocation to see under water. Scientist believe toothed whales are the only whales that have this ability.


Until next time this is Reagan & Robyn helping you see the seas

Toothed whales

Do you remember that there are two kinds of whales: Toothed whales and baleen whales? Do you remember what makes a toothed a toothed whale? Did you say teeth? Your right of course! Some have a hundred teeth! Sometimes they look upside down like ice cream cones we call them cone shaped. Because they don't chew. They just swallow. A whale uses its teeth to hold its prey while preparing to swallow it.

Until next time this is Reagan & Robyn helping you see the seas

Whalers

Fisherman that hunt whales are called whalers. As time went on whalers figured out that whales tend to travel along the same paths in the oceans during certain times of the year. Whalers kill whales for their blubber ( blub ur ) and to make lots of money. Do you know how much money a whale is worth? Tons of dollars! Did you know blubber is whale fat? It was used for oil in machines, oil lamps, and lots of other things like makeup. The whalers killed so many whales that they almost became extinct.Laws were passed to not kill whales. This is called conservation. 

Until next time,

 This is Reagan & Robyn helping you see the seas!

Top Six Whale Watching Destinations Worldwide

To answer my dad's question there are 6 really good places to find whales:

New Zealand

Hawaii

South Africa

Canada

Portugal

Massachusetts, USA

What Whales Do

Today we are going talk about how whales breathe, what is beaching, and how you may see whales in the water. 

Whales breathe from their blowhole. The blowhole is their nose. The blowhole is on top of their head. Scientists can tell what kind of whale they see from the size, shape and height of the whale's spout. A spout is warm air that comes out of their blowhole. Just like when it's really cold outside we sneeze and our air turns to steam.The Blue whale's spout can be 35 feet tall.

Sometimes a whale gets stranded on a beach. If a whale is sick or loses its direction it will get beached on the shore. If someone doesn't get there fast enough the whale can die. If one whale gets beached then other whales will sometimes follow and get beached too.If you are on a whale watching trip you might see it spyhopping, breaching, logging, or lobtailing.

We are very sad that whales get beached but that is how God made them. But hopefully you'll get to see whales on the move.

Until next time,

This is Reagan and Robyn bringing the sea to you!

 Spyhopping is when whales stick their heads out of the water.

 Lobtailing is when a whale sticks its fluke out of the water and slaps the water.

 Logging is when a whale sits on the top of the water and it looks like a log in the water.

Breaching is when a whale is jumping out of the water.

I Love Whales

We are learning new things about whales. They are fun to study. We have learned that whales are mammals, they make cool sounds, and there are different types of whales. Blue whales are the biggest animals in the world!
Whales are marine mammals. Marine means water.  Mammal means that they have live babies.
Whales can't breathe under water so very often they have to come up to the surface.
Whales make so many different sounds. Some click, some chirp, and some moan or even sound like a gunshot. They use their sounds to communicate with other whales.
There are different types of whales.Some whales have teeth but some don't. The ones that do are called Toothed whales. Baleen whales don't have teeth. They have bristles that catch plankton to eat. A whale's tail is called a fluke. Their tails move up & down but fish move their tails from side to side.
Whales are cool. We will type more tomorrow when we learn more about them.

You can hear sounds of whales here--->   Beautiful Whale Song on Youtube

You can see pictures and hear sounds of the Humpback Whale here -----> National Geographic Humpback Whale


Until next time,

This is Reagan & Robyn helping you see the seas!