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Let's learn about manatees!
Manatees, also known as sea cows, are large, slow moving animals that live in the rivers
and marshy coastal areas of West Africa, the Amazon, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of
Mexico.
Manatees are aquatic mammals, which means that although they never leave the water where
they live, they must come to the surface every few minutes to breathe air.
Like all mammals, manatees are warm blooded, feed their babies milk, and have hair.
They may not look very hairy, but manatees have whisker-like hairs all over their bodies
that help them sense movement in the water and feel different textures.
Since manatees have very poor eyesight, this might help them find the right kind of food
to eat.
Manatees are herbivores, meaning they eat plants.
They graze on underwater plants like sea grasses and algae for up to eight hours a day, grabbing
the plants and pulling them into their mouth with their prehensile upper lip.
They need to eat a lot of food to fuel their huge bodies!
Manatees can be as heavy as 1200 lbs or 550 kg, and regularly reach lengths of 10 feet
or 3 meters.
That's as big as a small whale!
Manatees may be big, but they are not fat!
Unlike other aquatic mammals like seals and walruses, manatees do not have blubber to
protect them from cold temperatures, which means that they can only survive in warm waters.
Something interesting about manatees is that they grow new teeth all the time.
The sea grass and aquatic plants that manatees eat are frequently covered in sand, which
wears down their teeth.
Once a worn tooth falls out, a new tooth moves forward to take its place, and another tooth
begins growing in the back of their mouth.
Manatees can swim as quickly as 20 miles or 32 km/h for short distances, but they usually
drift along at 3 miles or about 5 km/h.
Because they live in warm, shallow waters and move so slowly, manatees may often have
algae, barnacles, and other things grow and build up on their thick, wrinkled skin, and
they can't get it off.
Fortunately, there's someone willing to help the manatees out: cleaner fish.
Cleaner fish will approach manatees and nibble away algae, parasites, and dead skin that
covers their back, leaving the manatees cleaner and much more comfortable.
People think that a long time ago, sailors might have mistaken manatees for mermaids,
and if you look at their skeletons you can understand why!
The bones of the flippers look like arms with hands and fingers, but anyone who got a good
look at a manatee's face would know the difference right away.
When the explorer Christopher Columbus visited the new world in 1493, he reported seeing
mermaids in the warm coastal waters, although according to him, these mermaids were "not
half as beautiful as they are painted."
Today, people and manatees have a very different relationship.
Manatees have no natural predators and may live up to 60 years in the wild, but all species
of manatees are vulnerable to extinction due to habitat loss and collisions with boats,
which kills many manatees a year.
People are trying to protect manatees by making it illegal to kill them, preserving their
habitats, and creating safe zones where boats may not travel or must go slowly.
Because of these efforts, some manatee populations are beginning to recover!
I hope you enjoyed learning about manatees today.
Goodbye till next time!