How many of these facts do you know about manatees?
Manatees are closely related to two land mammals: the hyrax and the elephant.
Their name comes from the Carab word “manti,” meaning “breast” or “udder” since they nurse their young. They are also called sea cows!
They’re the ocean’s largest herbivores. An adult can grow up to 13 feet long and weigh as much as 1300 pounds.
The manatee has a smooth brain, and the smallest brain of all mammals in relation to its body mass. However, their small brain doesn’t mean they’re stupid—a neuroscientist at the UF proved manatees as adept at experimental tasks as dolphins, though they are slower-moving and and more difficult to motivate because they do not eat fish.
Manatees are nearsighted and can see in blue, green, and gray—but not red!
Christopher Columbus recorded in a 1493 ship log that he “distinctly saw three mermaids, which rose well out of the sea; but they are not so beautiful as they are said to be, for their faces had some masculine traits.” This is because they were actually manatees!
While they are usually content to cruise along at 5 mph, they can use their powerful tails to swim up to 15 mph for short bursts.
Their thick, whisker-like hairs are called vibrissae. They have roughly 2000 on their faces, and 3000 on their bodies. These innervated follicles help the manatee sense and explore its watery world.
Though they usually surface every 3 to 5 minutes, they can hold their breath while submerged for 15 to 20 minutes.
Despite being roly-poly, they are not fat! Their large round rib cage gives them their look.
They were listed as endangered in 2007 due to anticipated future changes in warm-water habitat and threats from increasing watercraft traffic over the next several decades, on the basis of a population size of less than 2,500 mature individuals.
In 2017, they was a federal reclassification of the manatee from endangered to threatened as the number of sea cows had increased to over 6,000!
Manatees are proof that conservation efforts WORK! What are your favorite things about these gentle giants? Did we miss any here?
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