Marine Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 11, 2015

Sea Lion 'Aerospace': High-Thrust, Low Wake

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The California sea lion has a unique way of moving through the ocean. This highly maneuverable aquatic mammal produces thrust primarily with its foreflippers – the ones it has...

May 22, 2017

Terrifying Video: Why a Sea Lion Pulled a Little Girl into the Water

It was a terrifying moment caught on video. A sea lion bobs its head in the water while a girl sits gingerly on the dock above. The next instant, the sea lion launches out of the water and pulls the girl in, but the animal releases her a few seconds...

Jul 1, 2020

No one knows why decapitated sea lions keep turning up in Vancouver Island

The decapitated bodies of at least five sea lions found on the shores of Vancouver Island, Canada, over the past few months hint that there may be a marine-mammal serial killer on the loose, or perhaps someone who is lopping off the heads of already dead sea lions, according to...

Jun 22, 2022

Swarm of rainbow-colored starfish devour sea lion corpse on seafloor

An award-winning photographer has captured the somber moment when dozens of colorful starfish set about devouring a lifeless sea lion on the seafloor in California. Wildlife photographer David Slater captured the haunting photo in the shallow waters of Monterey Bay. The dead sea lion and its compatriots swimming in the...

Jul 13, 2022

Groovy! Dancing Sea Lion Keeps a Beat

Though dancing may come naturally to (some) humans, it doesn't quite have a parallel in the animal kingdom. Now, a California sea lion named Ronan may be the first non-human mammal to bop to the rhythm of a song. After being trained to bob her head to some simple tracks,...

Mar 12, 2014

Dead Dolphins Wash Ashore Amid UK's Stormy Winter

Unusually stormy weather in Britain this winter has apparently taken a toll on dolphins and porpoises. Carcasses of the marine mammals have been washing up on beaches in West Sussex, Dorset and Cornwall, The Daily Express reports. According to the paper, the creatures' food sources, such as sand eels and...

Mar 27, 2014

Ukraine's Combat Dolphins Now Swim for Russia

Following the Russian takeover of Crimea this month, a lot of residents of Crimea are being asked to switch sides — but not all of those residents are human. Crimea — formerly a part of Ukraine — was formally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russian troops took control...

Apr 14, 2014

How Do Dolphins Sleep?

For humans and other land mammals, sleep involves partial or total unconsciousness, the inactivation of all voluntary muscles (those that are consciously controlled) and the suspension of senses such as vision and smell. But the same thing isn't true for dolphins and other cetaceans, the group of marine mammals that...

Apr 24, 2014

Dolphins Put Sponges on Snouts to Snag Elusive Snacks

Dolphins can use sponges as tools to snag food they could not otherwise grab, researchers say. This is the first direct evidence that dolphins can use tools to carve out unique places in the food chain, scientists added. Dolphins are often ranked among the smartest members of the animal kingdom....

Jul 16, 2014

Dams Imperil Pakistan's Endangered River Dolphins

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. E.T. The Indus River dolphin's habitat is shrinking because of irrigation dams that divide up the river into sections, new research suggests. The findings support conservationists' long-held suspicion that dams along the world's major rivers have been catastrophic for the species...

Aug 7, 2014

'Cape-Wearing' Dolphin Turns Out to Be New Species

It's not every day that scientists identify a new mammal — especially one that can grow to be more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) long. But researchers recently named a new species of cetacean: the Australian humpback dolphin, Sousa sahulensis. S. sahulensis hadn't been hiding in a mysterious part of...

Aug 13, 2014

Whee! Whales and Dolphins Squeal with Delight

Almost like giggling children, dolphins and whales squeal with delight when they get a fishy treat, a new study finds. These marine mammals are known to use buzzing sounds to navigate and communicate when hunting for food. But the animals also emit victory squeals in response to a reward, or...

Sep 30, 2014

Dolphins Can Sense Magnets, Study Suggests

Dolphins can now add magnetic sense to their already impressive resume of abilities, new research suggests. When researchers presented the brainy cetaceans with magnetized or unmagnetized objects, the dolphins swam more quickly toward the magnets, the new study found. The animals may use their magnetic sense to navigate based on...

Jan 7, 2015

Rare Albino Bottlenose Dolphin Spotted Off Florida Coast

An albino bottlenose dolphin, recently spotted off the east coast of Florida, was caught on video flashing its white dorsal fin above the water's blue waves. The rare white dolphin is the star of an amateur video filmed by Danielle Carter, a volunteer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation...

Feb 19, 2015

New Residents: Dolphins Swam into Mediterranean 18,000 Years Ago

Bottlenose dolphins moved into the Mediterranean, once too salty to harbor much marine life, at the end of the last ice age about 18,000 years ago, a new study finds. It is quite likely that the bottlenose dolphin hasn't actually been in the Mediterranean for long, in terms of the...