Pinniped High levels of organic chemicals accumulate in these animals since they are near the top of food chains and have large reserves of blubber. Lactating mothers can pass the toxins on to their young. These pollutants can cause gastrointestinal cancers, decreased reproductivity and greater vulnerability to infectious diseases. Other man-made threats include habitat destruction by oil and gas exploitation, encroachment by boats, and underwater noise. Pinniped Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared
March Mammal Madness by a mix of scientific research, and an element of chance. Katie Hinde and the March Mammal Madness organizing team do in-depth research on the mammal contestants. Temperament, diet, social behavior, environment, size, and fight style are just a few of the factors that are taken into consideration. After these factors are weighed against each other, Hinde and the rest determine probability of one animal defeating another. This is how they develop the seed, or rank, of each mammal. Then a 100 sided die is rolled with a determined percentage numbers attributed to each animal. This adds an element of