![]() ![]() ![]() Rather, it comes from a sensitivity to the build-up of CO2. When you hold your breath, the urge to breathe again doesn’t come from a drop in oxygen levels. It feels as though you can only hold your breath for a fraction of the time you can with a full set of pipes, and there’s a good reason for this. In order to do this, they need to start holding their breath with empty lungs, and that, if you’ve never tried it, is quite uncomfortable. They can hold their breath for over 20mins This of course means that the muscles used for swimming need to be fully loaded with enough oxygen before the dive, but it means that compressed air in the lungs can’t enter the surrounding tissues which reduce the risk of decompression sickness. The tiny alveoli in the lungs, where gas exchange occurs, are allowed to close, keeping any air trapped in the airway, and away from the blood. To limit the amount of gas exchange in the tissues, and therefore reduce the amount of dissolved gases in them, they allow their lungs to collapse a bit under the pressure of the water. This is a serious problem for human divers, but sea lions have a neat trick to help avoid it. This can cause bubbles in the tissues, bringing with it tremendous pain in the joints, and sometimes getting into blood vessels and preventing them from working. When air-breathing animals ascend in the water too quickly, they run the risk of the dissolved gases in their tissues emerging from the solution as the pressure drops suddenly. One of the coolest adaptations they have is the ability to avoid decompression sickness, or “the bends”. They also have visible ears, and longer noses, which they will hold in the air while they’re not listening to you.ĭespite spending so much more time on land than their more elegant cousins, sea lions are extremely well adapted to life in the water. While both animals are vocal, at least a seal will shut up while you’re talking. As humans, and probably the most refined walking animal on earth, it’s the one thing we’re physically good for, so it’s only fair to have high standards, but for a marine mammal, the sea lion is OK, I guess. Sea lions are therefore larger, spend more time on the land, and can rotate their rear flippers to enable them to walk. They have no visible ears and have round, puppy-like faces. ![]() They’re better swimmers but can’t walk as well on land. Seals are usually smaller and spend more time in the water. But there are some differences if you can get close enough. They’re both in the pinniped clade, they both live in marine, coastal environments eating fish, and they both stink to high heaven. Seals and sea lions resemble one another quite a lot, despite being from different families. It’s not certain where they evolved from, but as they stand, they’re a very powerful and potentially dangerous animal, despite how much they look like your dog. They can eat as much as 5–8% of their body weight in each feeding and while they have teeth for tearing food, often swallow it whole. Sea lions are opportunistic foragers that will diet on a variety of prey, such as fish, squid, octopus, sharks, lobsters, crustaceans, and even penguins. The smallest species are the Galápagos sea lion, that can still grow up to 2.5m (8.2 ft) in length and way as much as 400kg (880 lb). The largest species is the Steller’s sea lion which can grow up to 3m (10 ft) in length and weigh as much as 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The range in size between 1.5 – 3m and 50 – 1,000 kg in weight. They have incredible adaptations to diving and marine life, and can even teach us a lot about our own language. Sea lions may look like seals, but they’re different enough to get upset if you confuse them. They inhabit subarctic and tropical waters in both Northern and Southern hemispheres – except for the Northern Atlantic ocean, despite compatible temperature and food sources. There are 6 species of sea lion across 5 genera, and they share the same family as fur seals, and are related to walrus and seals. Sea lions are known as pinnipeds, who are a group of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. Cute, powerful marine predators with an impressive roar.Īll Subarctic to tropical waters except Northern Atlantic The Latin name for this family refers to their little ears. The common name for this animal combines two of the most powerful images in the natural world. ![]()
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