How come ocean <span title="mammals(seals,whales,porpoises">mammals(seals,whales,porp...</span> etc.) don't drink fresh water?

Question

How come ocean mammals(seals,whales,porp... etc.) don't drink fresh water?

Answer 1

Because they live in the ocean.  There isn&#039;t any fresh water in the ocean.  Ocean Mammals are scared off from land by Humans and most of them are too big anyways to swim or travel up stream to fresh water lakes.

Answer 2

...Cuz maybe they don&#039;t like it

Answer 3

ocean mammals get water from the food they eat and thats not much.they dont need alot because they dont sweat.and fresh water is bad for their skin.

Answer 4

They get most of the water they need through the food they eat.  They have also evolved to filter much of the salinity of their environment through their kidneys and digestive system.(something most land mammals are not able to do).  They do not prespire as such so need much less H2O for physiological purposes than land mammals, which need a great deal to especially keep them from overheating.

Also, fresh water is harmful to the skin of these mammals.  Spending too much time in or near it is not recommended.

Answer 5

Because the ocean does not consist of fresh water, their environment only consists of salt water. In any case the majority of marine (ocean) mammals do not drink seawater (salt water) anyway. Although some marine mammals are known to drink seawater at least on occasion, it is not well established that they routinely do so. They have other options: sea-dwelling mammals can get water through their food, and they can produce it internally from the metabolic breakdown of food (water is one of the by-products of carbohydrate and fat metabolism).

The salt content of the blood and other body fluids of marine mammals is not very different from that of terrestrial mammals or any other vertebrates: it is about one third as salty as seawater. Because a vertebrate that drinks seawater is taking in something three times saltier than its blood and also to avoid dehydration, it must get rid of the excess salt by producing very salty urine. In the seal and sea lion species, for which measurements exist, the animals&#039; urine contains up to two and a half times more salt than seawater does and seven or eight times more salt than their blood