Lesson One: Who Are We?
The NMMF's mission is to improve and protect life for marine mammals, humans, and our shared oceans through science, service, and education.
That means we don't just care about the health of marine mammals, we care about the health of the oceans and their ecosystems as a whole. We understand that human actions impact the health of the oceans and, conversely, the health of the oceans impacts us as humans.
Science
Our researchers, animal care experts, and scientists advance the world's knowledge of marine mammal biology and medicine. Our long history of providing care for the U.S. Navy's marine mammals gives us the knowledge and experience to effectively study how human-made sound and changes to the environment impact marine mammals.
Service
We are proud to protect the health and wellbeing of the U.S. Navy's marine mammals. This important work has led to many scientific discoveries that help the NMMF team study and protect wild marine mammal populations and develop critical conservation approaches. We will talk about this more in Lesson Three: Anatomy & Physiology: Dolphins
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Education
Our team strives to foster the next generation of scientists and ocean ambassadors. As part of our commitment to education, we take our message of conservation and research to schools, organizations, and public events nationwide.