Marine Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals

Reptiles

Class Reptilia

Includes sea turtles, sea snakes and marine lizards (Galapagos iguanas), marine crocodiles

Ectothermic (cold-blooded)

Breathe air with lungs

Covered in scales

Equipped with special salt glands to concentrate and excrete excess salts from body fluids

Almost all live in tropical or subtropical waters (except turtles)

Sea Turtles

Eight known marine species

Cannot retract head and tails like turtles on land

Adults have no natural predators except humans

Forelimbs have flippers for propulsion and hind limbs are like rudders for steering.

Green turtle is most common species

Eat marine algae, sea grass, and other plants.

Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have renowned navigation skills

Return every few years to the beach where they were born to lay eggs

Use the angle of the sun to find latitude, wind and wave direction, smell, and visual clues to find land.

Marine Crocodiles

Live in mangrove swamps and reef islands.

Mostly in tropical western Pacific (Australia and Indonesia)

Australians call them “Salties”

Dangerous to humans if get too close

Marine Birds

Class Aves (hence Avian)

Evolved from dinosaurs

Endotherms (warm blooded)

Have light, thin, hollow bones in order to fly

All birds lay eggs on land

Only 3% of known bird species qualify as seabirds

Most live in Southern Hemisphere

Have salt excreting glands

The Tubenoses

100 Species

World’s most oceanic birds

Beaks can sense air speed, detect smells, and remove salt

Include the albatross with a wingspan of 12 feet!

Fly for weeks or months at a time without landing

Use thermals and uplift from winds and soar in long, looping, arcs

Eat fish

The Pelicans

Includes Pelicans, cormorants, frigate birds, and boobies

All have throat pouches and webbed feet

Pelicans dive for fish

Frigates can’t walk or swim so they have to catch fish or small squid in flight.

The Gulls

Mostly found along coasts and beaches

Scavengers (eat almost anything)

Good flyers, swimmers, and runners

Terns are included in this group and live mostly at sea.

The Penguins

Lost ability to fly

Use wings to swim long distances

Have fatty insulation, greasy feathers, and stubby appendages to hold in heat

Live mostly in the Antarctic (southern hemisphere), South America, and Australia

Emperor Penguins are largest. Can dive 875 feet and stay underwater for 10 minutes

Each fish, mollusks, crustaceans, squid