Marine mammal Marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They do not represent a distinct taxon or systematic grouping, but rather have a polyphyletic relation due to convergent evolution, as in they do not have an immediate common ancestor. They are also unified by their reliance on the marine environment for feeding. Marine mammal adaptation to an aquatic lifestyle varies considerably between species. Both cetaceans and sirenians are fully aquatic and therefore are obligate water dwellers. Seals
Mammal and 2015. Some species, such as the [[Père David's deer]] are [[extinct in the wild]], and survive solely in captive populations. Other species, such as the [[Florida panther]], are [[Ecological extinction|ecologically extinct]], surviving in such low numbers that they essentially have no impact on the ecosystem. Other populations are only [[Local extinction|locally extinct]] (extirpated), still existing elsewhere, but reduced in distribution, as with the extinction of [[gray whale]]s in the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]]. <br> [[Category:Mammals| ]] [[Category:Bathonian first appearances]] [[Category:Extant Middle Jurassic first appearances]] [[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]] Mammal Mammals ( from Latin "mamma" "breast") are vertebrate animals constituting the