The manatee is a large marine mammal and it is also commonly known as the sea cow. It is found in warmer waters only in the eastern hemisphere
around subtropical regions such as Florida and the Caribbean. The
average species can often weight more than 500kg and can grow to
lengths of over 4.5 meters. Despite their large size it is not uncommon
for the it to reach more than 70 years old.
The manatee spends most of its time grazing on plants in warm, shallow waters that are seldom deeper than a couple of meters. It is a herbivore and therefore only really feeds on aquatic plants
like sea grass and algae but it has been thought that certain species
of it may eat smaller fish but not necessarily on purpose . The
female generally grows to larger sizes than the male
meaning that the female is also heavier than the
male. The large size of the manatee makes the it one of the
biggest mammals in the world, but the this animal obviously has a long way
to go before it will be the size of a blue whale!
Manatees inhabit warm, shallow
marshlands under water, where the these spends a great deal of its
time sleeping. As the manatee is indeed a mammal, do not
have gills and therefore cannot breathe underwater so it has to
resurface regularly in order to take in air. These are usually breed
only once every couple of years, with the manatee gestation period
lasting about a year. These only give birth to one manatee calf at a
time. Mother then spend 12 to 18 months to weaning the manatee calf.
Manatees can often be seen in
large herds, often of more than 20 individuals. This however, is
quite rare as it is generally a solitary animal and
with the exception of the mother nursing her calf, it tend to spend most of their time alone. The manatee has been
linked to mermaids in ancient folklore and the people of
West Africa, believed this animal to be sacred so anyone that killed a
manatee was a sinner. The people of South America, would hunt this animal
for their meat and then use the bones of this animal to treat basic
ailments.
Despite popular belief, the dugong is
not another name for the manatee, or even a type of this animal. The dugong
inhabits waters close to Australia and although closely related to this animal, the two have one obvious difference. The tail of the manatee is
broad and flat, but the tail of the dugong is forked and therefore more
fish-like in appearance. Source
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