Manatee

West Indian Manatee, Sea cow, Chubby Mermaid
Trichechus manatus

Sea cow - because they graze all day like a cow.

Manatee - because it stems from the carib word manati
which means breast or udder.

Mermaid - because early sailors heard the word breast
and started mistaking manatees for mermaids?
...Because they spent too much time at sea?
Were hullucinating and lonely?...Too much rum?

Regardless of all that sailor confusion,
they are gentle non-mermaid giants and
the ocean’s largest herbivore.

Here's some cool manatee facts:

They don't have ear lobes, but they do have ears!
Which are just tiny holes located behind their eyes.

Inside a manatee ear hole is a manatee ear bone.
You can determine a manatee's age by the
annual growth rings on its ear bones.
Just like the growth rings in a tree!

Their eyes are tiny too. And they don't have eyelashes.
But they do have a nictitating membrane that acts kinda like a protective eyelid they can see through.
Kinda like built-in protective goggles, allowing them
to see fairly well underwater.

They have teeth like a shark!

Just kidding! That would be horrifying.

They have conveyor belt-like teeth like a shark.
Their molar-like teeth wear down, fall out and are
continuously replaced by new teeth behind them.
Sharks do this too, but with sharper teeth.

Marching molars are necessary since they often grind up plants mixed with sand. Gritty green num nums.

Their closest relative is the elephant.
But are kinda like sloths too.

They’re slow moving, grow algae on their backs,
eat plants and can’t move their heads sideways due to
only having 6 neck vertebrae. All other mammals have 7.
They both have to turn their whole body around to look behind them. Making them awkward but adorable
marine elephant sloth cows.

They look all big and blubbery but they are
mostly just stomach and intestines.

Their gritty green num nums have low nutritional value
so they have to eat 10-15% of their body weight everyday.

Which means an average 1,000lb manatee eats 100-150lbs of seagrass, leaves and algae everyday. What a cow!

But since they have very little insulation they get cold stressed easily in water below 68 degrees.

All that eating and digesting does produce some
internal heat - but not enough to survive cold weather.

Which is why they congregate in the warm water of
natural springs or the effluents of power plants
in the winter. Most return to the same spot each year.

When the weather warms up they venture out again
and can be found as far north as Massachusets
and as far west as Texas.

Mommy manatees are pregnant for an entire year

and then give birth to a 4ft long, 60lb baby. Ouch!

They nurse their gigantic babies for two years and

then send them off into the world to someday

become parents of gigantic babies too.

They can stay submerged for up to 20 minutes
but most of the time they surface to breathe
every 3-5 minutes as they carelessly cruise along
at 5mph, grazing on their nums.

But can be motivated to swim up to 15 mph for short bursts, twice as fast as an olympic swimmer.

Then they come up to the surface to breathe every
30 seconds because they’re using more energy.
That kind of effort is usually only reserved for
impressing manatee ladies though.

Or perhaps to show up olympic swimmers.

When they take a breath 90% of the air in their
lungs is replaced. Humans only replace 10%.

But lungs aren’t the only place where air hangs out in a manatee. Their plant diet makes them super farty.

When they fart their bodies sink down a little.
When they hold in their farts- they float up.

They also have solid bones without any marrow.
That extra weight allows them to easily hang at the sea bottom and eat more and more green gas fart fuel.

So, their buoyancy is controlled by heavy bones,
lungs and farts. Kinda like your uncle.

They have the lowest brain to body size ratio
of all the mammals but they ain’t stupid. Their
gray to white matter ratio is higher than even humans.
(Gray matter is the area of the brain where thinking happens.)

Giving them a great long term memory which helps
them migrate hundreds of miles. In captivity they can be trained to do basic tasks but aren’t terribly motivated
by fish like their annoyingly enthusiastic dolphin friends.

They have no natural predators but are killed in
scary high numbers by boaters, fishing nets and line
and seagrass die offs every year.

They have a life expectancy of 60 years but these
days few live past 20 years. Sad.

Boat collisions are so common that propeller
cuts and scars are the primary identification
method when studying manatees.

97% of manatees
have boat propeller cuts and scars.

They are a threatened species and protected
by many laws. Messing with one can leave you
with a hefty fine or in jail. But most crimes against manatees are unintentional, accidental
and without awareness.

Boat speeds, littering from fishing and
overuse of fertilizer and other pollutants are
bad for our farty-mermaid friends.
And the rest of the ecosystem.

They are, of course, like everything else, an important
link in the whole web-of-life chain thing.
And an indicator species for the health of the ecosystem.

If manatees are doing well, so is the environment and so are we. Let’s do better for them and for all of us.

Long live the adorable marine elephant sloth cow!

References:
https://myfwc.com/research/manatee/rescue-mortality-response/publication/
https://www.savethemanatee.org/manatees/facts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manatee
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/manatees
https://myfwc.com/education/wildlife/manatee/facts-and-information/
https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/endoceanmanatees/
https://www.evergladesfoundation.org/post/10-things-you-didn-t-know-about-florida-manatees-and-where-to-see-them?gclid=CjwKCAjw6vyiBhB_EiwAQJRophc6TF3wnkzmJjEk76hAd0rgAYqMJJoYlkEPn2gRHaaeLLGuzGTvORoCFoQQAvD_BwE

Special thanks to Jay Exum, Ph.D. Wildlife Ecology for his expert fact checking!

Manatee

West Indian Manatee, Sea cow, Chubby Mermaid Trichechus manatus

Regardless of all that sailor confusion, they are gentle non-mermaid giants and the ocean’s largest herbivore.

Here's some cool manatee facts:

They don't have ear lobes, but they do have ears! Which are just tiny holes located behind their eyes. Inside a manatee ear hole is a manatee ear bone. You can determine a manatee's age by the annual growth rings on its ear bones. Just like the growth rings in a tree!

Their eyes are tiny too. And they don't have eyelashes. But they do have a nictitating membrane that acts kinda like a protective eyelid they can see through. Kinda like built-in protective goggles, allowing them to see fairly well underwater.

They have teeth like a shark!

Just kidding! That would be horrifying.

They have conveyor belt-like teeth like a shark. Their molar-like teeth wear down, fall out and are continuously replaced by new teeth behind them. Sharks do this too, but with sharper teeth. Marching molars are necessary since they often grind up plants mixed with sand. Gritty green num nums.

They look all big and blubbery but they are mostly just stomach and intestines.

When they take a breath 90% of the air in their lungs is replaced. Humans only replace 10%. But lungs aren’t the only place where air hangs out in a manatee. Their plant diet makes them super farty. When they fart their bodies sink down a little. When they hold in their farts- they float up.

They also have solid bones without any marrow. That extra weight allows them to easily hang at the sea bottom and eat more and more green gas fart fuel. So, their buoyancy is controlled by heavy bones, lungs and farts. Kinda like your uncle.

97% of manatees have boat propeller cuts and scars.

They are a threatened species and protected by many laws. Messing with one can leave you with a hefty fine or in jail. But most crimes against manatees are unintentional, accidental and without awareness.