The Sea Cow herself. Sometimes called the Caribbean Manatee,this gracious and gentle creature is the nearest living relative to the elephant. Some of the common ancestors to these creatures moved to live in the sea, probably with an interim period as waders. Known as Sirenian, their colour is grey like the elephant but brown ones do exist although this colour is uncommon. The Floridian is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee and it is difficult to differentiate between the two.
Some species of the manatee are extinct, for example the Steller's Sea Cow. In 1741, the naturalist Georg Wilhelm Stellar over wintered on Bering Island along side the other survivors of the Russian shipwreck ‘St. Peter’. He busied himself exploring and soon found the sirenian inhabitant and recorded it. The rest of the crew also found it and decided that it was good food. It caught on as such after the crew were rescued and was hunted to extinction within 27 years of its discovery. The sireans only natural enemy is man. Unfortunately, all manatees may become extinct early in the 21st Century.
Odd and rare reports of a creature answering the description of sirenia have been made by locals in isolated pockets near to the Bering Straights and have ebbed into mainstream media leading to speculation of a small surviving colony of Steller's Sea Cow in some remote areas of the Arctic. This is hopeful but presently unsubstantiated.
One other remaining member of the sirenia family is the dugong, but more of this relative later...
The name manatee is from a native Caribbean word for breast, manati. The family lists thus:
Our concern here is the West Indian manatee with its sub-species, the Floridian.
Manatees languish in lagoons
and brackish water but easily move between fresh water and the marine environment. A full grown
adult can reach 13 feet (4 meters) and weigh in at 3,500 pounds (1,600kg) but typical sizes are
12 feet with a weight of 1,500 to 1,800 pounds (680 - 816 kg)
and yet despite this great weight and chubby
appearance a manatee carries virtually no fat. Living 60 years or more, the manatee moves along
the bottom grazing up to 100 pounds of vegetation per day at an average maximum speed of 3-5 mph
(5-8 kph). This feeding method is the probable origins of its pet name, Sea Cow. Sea grass forms
a large part of a manatees diet and consequently planktons and other small life forms
inadvertently add to their diet in the course of grazing.
Because of this slow moving action, it attracts barnacles across its back and during the period it spends in fresh water, green algae carpets the animal, a result of shallow fresh water and sunlight. Salt water kills off the algae growth but whether in salt or fresh water the manatee prefers shallow waters.
Movement is also very graceful and the gentleness of the creature softens hearts. To watch the obvious affection and kindliness that manatees treat not just others of their kind but humans also brings out recognition of a beauty of the soul that far out reaches visual beauty. Indeed, manatees often swim together flipper to flipper and act in a way that only the word kissing can describe. Mothers are very protective of their youngsters but not in a violent way as other creatures may be.
Gestation lasts thirteen months and the female is ready to mate at five years though males do not mature sexually until they are eight or nine. At birth a calf will weigh around 65 pounds (29 kg) and will be dependent on mum up to two years. It's colour will be almost black but this pales after 3 - 4 weeks. Only mum rears her young who feed from nipples behind her flippers but within a few weeks they begin feeding on plants. Twins are rare and only one calf is normal with a period of two to five years occurring between breeding. Spring is the most common birth time but records show that breeding and birth do not follow strict cycles and may occur at any time of the year.
Manatees seem to have good eyesight and recognize colour, research indicates a strong likelihood of good hearing that is reasonable giving their habit of communicating by use of sounds similar to dolphins in the 3 - 5 kHz range. Such talking is most common between mother and calf.
Their eating habits are hard on teeth but Mother Nature has evolved them to have moving teeth that progress from the back of their jaw where they are formed, and progressively move them into position to remove lost and extremely worn teeth. Their diet means that they only need molars.
The lack of body fat has one major draw back. Having evolved in tropical and sub-tropical environments they have little tolerance of cold and what may seem cold to humans would mean death to a manatee. Coming from the tropics, even cool can be dangerously cold. So, in winter manatees migrate to warmer areas and Florida enjoys a population rise, after all when 68 degrees F is cool you need to move on. Water outlets around power plants are especially welcoming. Moving at speeds of up to 20 mph (32 kph) may occur in short bursts but cannot be maintained; therefore migration is not hurried and requires good judgement.
Manatees have no natural enemies and do not share waters with sharks and so do not fall victim to these predators as do their cousins the dugongs who primarily occupy the seas in eastern parts. Man tries to make up for this and has great success!
Ironically, if science is a true guide and grey brain matter is a guide to thought power, the manatee has a larger portion of grey matter as a percentage of its brain than other known mammal. That includes the one reading this article...
There are so many facts to tell that this article does little justice. Why publish it then and why choose manatees as a subject to discuss when so many other species face extinction?
By offering a snippet of information the author is trying to raise awareness and the captivating beauty of this (ugly) mammal is soul deep. Seeing one is instant love and sadness (because of its plight). So many people visit Florida now that it is a good subject to raise as a standard for awareness of so many social and ecological factors.
Most people inadvertently do harm but that isn't an excuse. How many readers feed the wild birds in their gardens. I do. How many also use 'weed & feed' treatments on their lawn or spray their flowers with insecticide? By attracting the birds to the garden you entice them to eat seeds of weed and poisoned insects off flowers thus killing off wild bird populations at a frightening rate. Pause and think...
Almost all of the information and images on this page come from the Save the Manatee Club in Florida. Visit their web site and link to others by clicking on the Club Logo on the left of this paragraph. Click on the drawing of a dugong below for insight into the manatee's sirenian cousin.
