Marine mammal the attempt at such") of any marine mammal without a permit issued by the Secretary. Authority to manage the MMPA was divided between the Secretary of the Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), and the Secretary of Commerce, which is delegated to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Marine Mammal Commission (MMC) was established to review existing policies and make recommendations to the Service and NOAA to better implement the MMPA. The Service is responsible for ensuring the protection of sea otters and marine otters, walruses, polar bears, the three species of manatees, and dugongs;
Mammal the early [[Permian]]. Nonmammalian synapsids are sometimes called "mammal-like reptiles". [[Therapsid]]s, a group of synapsids, descended from [[pelycosaur]]s in the Middle Permian, about 265 million years ago, and became the dominant land vertebrates. They differ from basal [[Eupelycosauria|eupelycosaurs]] in several features of the skull and jaws, including: larger skulls and [[incisor]]s which are equal in size in therapsids, but not for eupelycosaurs. The therapsid lineage leading to mammals went through a series of stages, beginning with animals that were very similar to their pelycosaur ancestors and ending with [[probainognathia]]n [[cynodont]]s, some of which could easily be mistaken for mammals. Those