
Happy Manatee Awareness Month! Enjoy 10 facts about our favorite sea cows.
Despite being sea creatures, manatees closely resemble elephants in their lineage (manatees’ leathery, grey skin is a telltale sign!). Manatees are part of a group called the sirenians--which also includes dugongs--and are thought to, in conjunction with elephants, mastodons, and wooly mammoths, have all descended from a common ancestor.
Wondering what’s all over the manatee’s plump body? That would be millions of algae and barnacles—manatees’ slow-motion swimming provides an opportunity for tiny ocean life to thrive on their skin.
Manatees have been shown to perform just as well as dolphins when given specific tasks. Their thick skin contains a plethora of hairs called vibrissae that provide them with an exceptional sense of touch, which compensates for their lack of full-color vision.
Despite clocking in at a hefty 9-10ft long and weighing anywhere from 1,000-3,500 pounds, manatees are surprisingly agile. Manatees can swim vertically, upside down, barrel roll, and even do somersaults (typically reserved for playtime)!
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Manatees can eat a whopping 10-15% of their body weight each day, rightfully earning their ‘sea cow’ nickname. Being that manatees are herbivores, these calories typically come from various underwater grasses.
In the 15th century, sea creatures like mermaids, krakens, and sea serpents were popular in common folklore. The first recorded spotting of a manatee in North America was by Christopher Columbus in 1492, who thought the manatee he saw was a mermaid. Manatees’ biological grouping as sirenians gets its name from the Greek mythological sirens—a popular type of mermaid that lured sailors through song.
All of manatees’ teeth are molars, and their consistent tooth regeneration makes herbivorous grazing a breeze, especially since the grasses they eat are often riddled with sand.
Enacted in 1972, the MMPA ensures that, generally, threatened species like manatees are not to be taken from their natural habitats.
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Manatees can live long lives, often 60 years or more!
Though manatees were recently removed from the endangered species list, they’re now considered threatened and are dying in vast numbers due to nutrient runoff from factory farming. When factory farming runoff reaches the ocean, it aids the development of toxic algal blooms that destroy manatees’ top food source: seagrass.
This Manatee Awareness Month help protect manatees (and farmed animals!) by pledging to reduce your meat consumption and your reliance on the factory farming system that destroys manatees’ habitats and food sources.