To investigate the thermoregulation of marine mammals by performing an insulation experimentMarine reptiles, birds, and mammals all have terrestrial counterparts from which they differ morphologically and physiologically in order to survive in the ocean. This lab will explore morphological characteristics and will focus specifically on thermoregulation, or how some marine organisms have overcome the thermal challenges of a marine existence. Because water has a high heat capacity (the rate at which energy is transferred down a temperature gradient), it steals heat from a warm body approximately 25 times faster than air of the same temperature.