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-- E x t i n c t m a m m a l s --
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| Q 1. | ||
| What were the zeuglodonts? |
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| Q 2. | ||
| Can you provide information about the sea mink, an extinct marine mammal? |
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| Q 3. | ||
| I once read about a sea mink, which I think is an extinct marine mammal. Can you tell me about this animal? |
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| Q&A 1. | What were the zeuglodonts? Newton, Massachusetts |
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| The zeuglodonts were marine mammals of large size, supposedly the ancestors of our modern porpoises, whales and dolphins. They have been extinct for about forty million years. According to their fossil records, the zeuglodonts were active carnivorous predators, and their enormous teeth were remarkably sharklike in form. Instead of propelling themselves through the water by means of an up-and-down movement of the tail as their modern relatives do, these creatures moved in much the same manner as a crocodile, with a continuous, undulating motion of the long, flexible tail. Like present day whales, the zeuglodonts breathed air through nostril slits located on top of the head. |
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| Q&A 2. | Can you provide information about the sea mink, an extinct marine mammal? Fort Myers, Florida |
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| The sea mink (Mustela macrodom) was not a marine mammal. This mink lived along the coast of Maine and perhaps northeastern Canada. It lived among the coastal rocks and on islands, and this may account for the common name sea mnk. M. macrodon is known to science only from reports of fur trappers and incomplete skeletons found in the shell heaps of Indian tribes. For this reason, it also has the common name shell-heap mink. M. macrodon had a head-and-body length of about 3 feet, and a tail about 10 inches long. This very fat mink was larger and had coarser, redder fur than the North American mink (M. vison). Because of the larger size of its pelt, the sea mink was prized by fur trappers. Living among the rocks, with a limited range, the animal was hunted to extinction by 1860 to 1880. |
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| Q&A 3. | I once read about a sea mink, which I think is an extinct marine mammal. Can you tell me about this animal? Portland, Oregan |
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| The extinct sea mink (Mustela macrodon) inhabited the shoreline of Maine and perhaps northeastern Canada. It lived among the coastal rocks and on islands, and this may account for this land animal’s common name sea mink. Science knows the sea mink only from reports of fur trappers and incomplete skeletons found in the shell heaps of Indian tribes. For this reason, people also call it the shell-heap mink. The sea mink’s head-and-body length measured about three feet, and its tail was about ten inches long. This very fat mink grew larger and had coarser, redder fur than the North American mink (Mustela vision). Fur trappers prized the sea mink’s large-sized pelt. They hunted this accessible animal to extinction sometime between 1860 and 1880. |
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Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science Library
University of Miami, FL USA 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149 Phone: 305 421 4060 Fax: 305 421 9306 E-mail: libcirc@rsmas.miami.edu |
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