Marine Life:
Oil spills have a large affect on marine animals lives. There are several possibilites of what may happen when a marine animal comes in contact with oil. One thing that can happen is the oil coats the feathers of a marine animal (such as an aquatic bird) and the bird either attempts to clean itself, causing the animal to ingest and consequently be poisoned by the oil. The other option is that when the animal is coated in the oil it gets hypothermia, the animals body temperature would then drop significantly, and unfortunately in most cases this would result in the animals death. However, if professionals can interfere and capture the coated animals, they can sometimes prevent the animal's death. Sea otters are another sea animal that are negatively affected by oil spills. Sea otters bodies are covered in oil, and otters have bubbles in their fur that keep them warm and help them float. When the spilt oil infiltrates the bubbles the body temperature of the otter drops and the otter can die. Spilt oil can also enter a whale's blowhole, so when the whale goes to breathe the blowhole is plugged so it can not breathe. Also, if the whale eats fish that have swam through oil the whale will be poisoned and it can die.