A mother and calf humpback whale swim in ocean.

Marine Mammals

A harp seal in icy water

Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses Overview

Are you a student researching seals or someone looking to learn more about sea lions? Love Walruses? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

two humpback whales swim underwater

Whales

Narwhals with their long unicorn-like tusks.

Native Knowledge of the Narwhal

A Bryde's whale catches a meal

The Case of the Mystery Whale

a painting of a ship on a plate of baleen

The Story of Stashed Whale Baleen

A narwhal breaches the surface, its tusk pointed to the sky

Why a Tusk? The real-life unicorns of the sea and the tusks that make them famous

Are You An Educator?

At Smithsonian Ocean, we have lesson plans, activities, and resources to help you engage your students in the wonders of our oceans.

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Marine Mammals Articles

Human activity is increasing in the Arctic marine environment due to climate change. To help the most vulnerable areas, the Global Marine Program of IUCN, along with partners, is convening a series of workshops aimed at enhancing ecosystem-based management and identifying biologically or ecologically important or vulnerable habitats. Burgerbukta, a bay in Svalbard, Norway, is being managed for ecosystem protection.

The Sant Ocean Hall: Life at the Poles Exhibit

a sperm whale

Moby Dick's Boom Box: Sound Production in Sperm Whales

An illustration of multispecies communities of dugongs from India, Mexico and Florida

The Discovery of Multispecies Communities of Seacows

An illustration of a recently discovered species of Monodontid, Bohaskaia monodontoides, and its beluga and narwhale relatives

Smithsonian Scientists Describe a 'New' Fossil Whale

Nick Pyenson points to a skull and skeleton of a fossil whale.

Excavating a "toothed" baleen whale from Vancouver Island

A researcher holds an arm bone from a "toothed" mysticete whale from Vancouver Island.

Dispatches from the Field: Treacherous stream crossings and a new fossil find

Giant Pacific Manta Ray, Roca Partida Sea Mount, Revillagigedos Islands, Mexico

Tagging and Tracking Animals Underwater

Gabor Szathmary secures one of the plaster jackets containing a fossil "toothed" mysticete that was excavated on Vancouver Island.

Whale fossils on the mainland, and into a CT scanner

Ari Friedlaender, a research scientist at the Duke University Marine Lab, tags a blue whale.

Acrobatic Blue Whales Do the Twist While Feeding

A humpback whale breaching in Antarctic waters.

Humpback Whales in Antarctica: What Are the Whales Doing?

A polar bear and its cub in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Celebrating Marine Moms

The Ross Sea is a 1.9 million square mile (3.6 million square km) stretch of ocean off the coast of Antarctica.

A Trip South to Antarctica’s Ross Sea

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wildestanimal, flickr