Introduction
Manatees is a large grey brown aquatic mammal that also known as sea cow. They originated in the middle Eocene period around 45 to 50 million years ago. Manatees are slow moving mammals and spend most of their time eating, traveling and resting. These are herbivorous spending most of its time nibbling in the shallow waters of coastal areas of North, Central and South America and Carribean and can consume almost 10-15% of their body weight during eating aquatic plants. (Domning, pp. 599-600)
Physical Characteristics
Manatee has a body that taper to a flat, paddle- shaped tail. They have two flippers with three to four nails on each, and their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the snout. The manatee's closest relative is the elephant and hyrax. Manatees are believed to have evolved from a wading, plant-eating animal. The average adult manatee is about 10 feet long and weighs about 1,000 pounds. (Domning, pp. 600-601)
Swimming speeds of up to 20mph have been recorded, but normally manatees prefer to cruise at speeds of at 2-6mph. They will typically surface to breathe through their nostrils every three to five minutes. When they are using a great deal of energy, however, manatees may surface for air as often as every 30 seconds. They can stay submerged for up to 15-20 minutes.
Types of Manatees
There have been three species of Manatees that have been recognized uptil now. Even though these are somewhat similar in the appearance but have different geographical locations.
Manatees are considered to be migratory species. Hence these are found in the West African coast known as Trichechus senegalensis and in Amazonian area known as Trichechus inunguis inhabiting interior rivers of tropical South America, west to the Peruvian Amazon. (Domning, pp. 602-605)...............
