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Manatee Tidbits
[Manatee Tidbits] [Manatee Saga]
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[Professor Speaks]
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Manatees are large, social, aquatic mammals, which feed on plants growing on the sea floor. They frequent shallow nearshore waters and rivers as they search for food daily. They teach their young instinctive lifesaving behaviours in the first few moments of life! If the mother doesn't swim to the surface immediately to breathe after giving birth, the baby will die. The baby will instinctively rush to the mother's breasts (which are underwater) and eventually drown on the breasts. A good mother will rush to the surface to breathe soon after giving birth, causing the baby to do likewise, thus saving it's life!
The average adult Jamaican manatee is 1-4 meters long, and lives for about 50 years. The adult manatee weighs about 1,000 pounds. They reach maturity after 3-4 years, and their gestation period is a whole year! Mother's suckle their young for a full year. Mother and calf remain close to each other for about two years, until the calf is ready to go off on its own. Many people think that manatees, with their round heads, broad tails and graceful swimming ability are the animals that inspired legends of mermaids - beautiful half-woman, half-fish creatures. This may be, but only if you don't look too closely!
Believe it or not, elephants are distant relatives of manatees! You can
see a hint of this in the manatees with their large trunk-like noses, leathery
skin and the "toenails" on their flippers. Of the two, elephants
are more evolved, so they do not need to live in water. Even though manatees
are warm-blooded animals, they are unable to efficiently regulate their
body temperatures, because they have not fully evolved, so they still have
to live in water.
[Manatee Tidbits] [Manatee
Saga] [Sky Patrol] [Public
Awareness] [Professor Speaks]
[Manatee Food] [NHSJ & Manatees]
[School Clubs] [Threats To Seagrass
Community] [Home]