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.

see all lesson plans see marine mammal lesson plans

Marine Mammals Articles

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?

In 2011, storms and lack of ice-cover due to a warmer winter climate resulted in hundreds of seal pups being washed up on the shore of Prince Edward Island. Like many, this young seal faced an uncertain future. See more Nature's Best Photos.

Ice-Loving Seals and the Loss of Sea Ice

Fossil Whale Digsite at Cerro Ballena, Chile

The Whale Graveyard Whodunit

A humpback whale breaching.

Bacteria on Whale Skin Tell a Tale of Health and Sickness

The Charles W. Morgan tallship

History and Modern Science Collide for the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan

A 3-D reconstruction of the skull of a fin whale fetus.

Keeping An Ear Out For Whale Evolution

An unidentified earplug from the National Museum of Natural History collection.

Whale Earwax: What You Can Learn From Strange Collections

A hippopotamus-like creature swims underwater

Flippers or Feet? An Extinct Mammal May Have Been Replaced By Today's Sea Cows

An unidentified earplug from the National Museum of Natural History collection.

Ocean Objects of Wonder

Sea otters floating on the surface of the ocean.

Not Just Another Fuzzy Face

The 1903 blue whale in the Natural History Museum

A Century of Whales at the Smithsonian

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wildestanimal, flickr