Many sea creatures live in the oceans, not just mermaids! You’ll find that fish, reptiles, crabs, mammals, and even birds make their homes in the ocean.
Mers might have seen a few of these animals on trips to the beach or even at their local zoo. But if you’re shore-bound and inside these days, you can still visit several of the marine animals that live around the world!
Seals: Deep-sea divers
Mermaiden Brynn spends her days in the north Atlantic Ocean with her FinFriend Fergus the seal. If you want to learn more about seals, the Smithsonian Channel’s “Wild Inside the National Zoo” program has an episode titled Sea Mammal Smarts.
The five-minute video follows keepers at the Washington D.C. National Zoo as they work with sea lions and grey seals, just like Fergus. One animal you’ll learn about is Selke, the grey seal that worked in the United States Navy.
Grey seals can hold their breath for 20 minutes and dive about 400 feet, so Selke was trained to carry different tools in her mouth from the surface of the water down to the divers working on projects below the surface.
Penguins: Birds in the sea
Penguins are birds that live in the oceans. In fact, Mermaiden Crystal’s best friend is a penguin named Pepper!
While their densely feathered coats are sleek just like fish scales, penguins are still birds even though they depend on swimming in saltwater to live. Many penguin species are dwindling in numbers, and SeaWorld Park’s Saving a Species: Penguins has a full episode about penguins in general, as well as five shorter video clips about penguin specifics.
Want to observe penguins in real time? The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium has a penguin webcam. The exhibit features two Antarctic species of penguins: Macaroni and Gentoo. Macaroni penguins have yellow feathers on top of their heads, like a crown, and gentoo penguins have red-orange beaks and peach-colored feet.
Best of all, you can change the position of the webcam from your own computer. This makes it so you can look around the exhibit and find the penguins wherever they may be.
Sea turtles: Mariners of the ocean
Six species of sea turtles live in each of the world’s seas, except in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. A seventh species, the flatback sea turtle, lives only in the waters around Australia. That’s probably why Mermaiden Zoey’s FinFriend is Cooper the sea turtle.
Did you know that sea turtles cannot pull their head and legs inside their shells like other turtles do? You can learn more interesting facts when you visit National Geographic’s Sea Turtles 101 and watch their video about these mer-valous sea creatures!
View Sea Creatures from the Comfort of Home
Seals, sea lions, penguins, and sea turtles are just a few of the fascinating creatures that mers can swim with in the ocean. What other marine animals would you like to learn about?
What did you learn about sea animals from watching these videos? Let us know when you find more online footage of these fabulous ocean animals!
Featured Image by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash