about the animal
The West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus), is a marine mammal that inhabits the coasts and rivers of Florida, The Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. The manatee prefer to stay in warm shallow waters and can be found in both fresh and salt water environments.
The species are herbivores, they mostly eat mass amounts of the local plant life which is mostly grasses . though the are at the top of the food chain as they are not hunted by any other animals
The species are herbivores, they mostly eat mass amounts of the local plant life which is mostly grasses . though the are at the top of the food chain as they are not hunted by any other animals
manatee skinThe skin of manatee is grey in appearance and has a rough looking texture to it. At first glance, it would appear that the manatee is pretty chunky, but as it turns out, they don't have much fat in them, they're just big. |
flippersThe manatee have three flippers on them in total. they have two Pectoral Flippers they use for steering and movement. they can also use their flippers for several other uses such as holding stuff and touching. the back fin on the other hand, is primarily used for swimming. |
size and other infoFull grown manatee are around 10 to 12 feet long in length and weigh in at around 800 - 1200 pounds. a few facts about the manatee is that they can live up to 30 years in the wild and they can communicate by vocalizing and touching. |
the manatee is currently threatened due to human activity |
Reasons for endangerment
The biggest current threat to the manatee are boaters that are unaware of their surroundings. As seen in the photo above, the propellers make huge gashes on whatever part of their body it comes in contact with. It is estimated that about 75 to 100 manatee are killed a year due to boat strikes.
protectionwhile the manatee are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act which prevents the hunting of manatee, the act does not do much to properly enforce anything that would help prevent boat collisions.
The best way to help protect the manatee is for the boater to be properly educated on where exactly manatees will be, what to do if manatee are close to the boat, and to generally be a lot more aware of their surroundings. It would also be helpful for people to not get into the habit of feeding wild manatee as it only encourages them to swim up to boats for food. |