Facts About Manatee

Manatee’s or sea cows are probably the most peaceful sea creatures and they are harmless. They are herbivores and hence are not threats to the fishes and humans. They are such simple creatures that if a calf is by any chance separated from its mother, it dies. There was a time when these poor creatures were hunted for their flesh and hide, but now hunting of these creatures is banned. Because of their mammoth size, they don’t have any natural enemy apart from humans which either directly or indirectly keep on interfering in the habitats of these sea saints. Interestingly, these creatures once used to dwell on earth and were the counterparts of the present day elephants, but slowly they evolved into underwater species. These animals need a lot of space to move because of their size and are quite slow. Read on to know a few interesting facts about these gentle creatures.

Facts About Manatee
Scientific Name: Antillean manatee
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Sirenia
Family: Trichechidae
Genus: Trichechus
Species: Trichechus Inunguis, Trichechus Manatus, Trichechus Senegalensis and Trichechus Bernhardi
Diet: 60 different plant species
Size: Length: 2.8 to 3.0 m (9 to 10 ft)
Weight: 400 to 550 kg (900 to 1200 lb)
Swimming Speed: 5 to 8 km/hr
Natural Habitat: Warm, shallow, coastal estuarine waters
Lifespan: 50 to 60 years
Age of Maturity (males): 4 to 5 years
Age of Maturity (females): 9 to 10 years
Gestation Period: 12 months
Number of Offspring: One

Facts About Manatee

  • A manatee or a sea cow has lip pads which can be moved independently on each side. These lip pads provide necessary flexibility to the manatee in order to grab the grass from sea bed and move those into its mouth.
  • Manatees are devoid of eyelashes, but their eye muscles close in a peculiar circular motion, almost like the aperture of a camera. There is a thin membrane called nictitating membrane that covers the eye when the sea cow dives under water.
  • Despite of the absence of external earlobes, the hearing ability of manatees is very good. The normal heart beat rate in a manatee is 50 to 60 beats per minute, but when these creatures dive deep in the sea their heart beat drops to 30 beats per minute.
  • Manatees have no incisors and hence they can not cut or bite into their food. The teeth present in its mouth are meant for the purpose of chewing their food. Interestingly, the set of teeth keep on replacing throughout their life. The new teeth grow on the back side of the mouth and move a centimetre forward every month. Eventually, the front teeth fall as a result of chewing a lot of sand while grazing from the sea bed.
  • A manatee’s neck has six cervical bones or vertebrae, while in case of other mammals it’s seven; therefore, these creatures have problems turning their neck.  They have to turn all the way around to look behind.
  • The ribs of the manatee are solid and have no marrow, hence are heavy. The red corpuscles are formed in the sternum where marrow is usually located. The pelvic bone is present inside the manatee, but this is just a remnant of the times when these creatures used to dwell on land. The pelvic bones are not attached to the skeletal frame of the animal.
  • The lungs of a manatee are located by the spinal chord instead of the rib cage. These creatures have huge lungs which help these creatures to float and remain under water for long times. The expanse of manatee’s lungs is one meter long, twenty centimetres wide, and five centimetres thin. Apart from breathing, these lungs help in buoyancy control.
  • A manatee’s flipper’s bones are just like the bones of a human hand. The finger bones of the manatee are joined together and help a manatee while swimming and diving in water. The flipper of a manatee is not dexterous, but it helps a manatee bring food to its mouth and holding light objects inside water. There are nails at the end of the flipper which seemingly solve no direct purpose.
  • These creatures are enormous in size and on an average spread over 10 feet long. An average manatee can weigh around 1000 pounds.
  • It is interesting to observe that manatees are close cousins to elephants. These creatures have three prominent toes and heavy bones like elephants and like elephants.
  • When a manatee takes a long dive, it can remain under the water from ten to fifteen minutes in a single breath.
  • These creatures are nearsighted and can not see very well in muddy water. But their acoustic abilities keep these slow mammoths out of trouble.  Manatees make a high frequency sound to communicate with its herd. They leave messages for the herd by leaving signals and markings on big boulders and stones.