Manatees
They look like walruses. Sailors use to mistake them for mermaids. Butmanatees are sea mammals that look more like a small blimp than a prettymermaid. These calm and peaceful animals rarely fight each other andhave no natural enemies. They are so calm, that they remind people ofcows lazily grazing in a field. In fact, sometimes people call them seacows. They can reach 13 feet in length and weigh as much as 1,300 pounds.
There are three kinds of manatees and they all live in warm water. Onetype can be found from Florida to costal Brazil. Another enjoys thewarm waters of the Amazon and the third type is found on the westerncoast of Africa. About as big and heavy as a small car, it’s hard tobelieve that they swim with incredible grace and can hold their breathunder water for as long as 15 minutes. Keeping with their laid backattitude, they swim at a steady pace and can cover short distances at15 miles per hour. Their flippers help steer them. They alsohave a strong tail that gently strokes up and down. This movementhelps move them forward. In shallow water, manatees actually use theirflippers like legs. They walk on the bottom by carefully placing oneflipper infront of the other.
Manatees are born under water. Each newborn calf must come up quicklyto breathe air. The mother always helps the newborn to the water’ssurface for the first breath. Usually the newborn can swim on its ownwithin one hour after its birth. As you would expect, a manatee canweigh as much as 80 pounds at birth. A manatee calf can stay with itsmom for as long as two years as they feed on the plant life found in thewarm waters. Sea grass and Algae are the main foods they eat.They help clear over grown waterways by eating the plants that growthere. And boy, do manatees love to eat. On the average, a manateeeats as much as 1 pound of food for every 10 pounds of body weightevery 24 hours. A human kid that weighs 90 pounds would have to eat 9pounds of salad every day to keep up with these hungry mammals!
After years of being hunted for their hides and bones, they were almostextinct. But the numbers have slowly increased since Florida passedlaws to protect them and people like you have taken an interest in helpingsave them.
