Florida Manatee Interesting Facts
1. The Florida manatee has relatives.
Sea cows are distant relatives of elephants. Both manatees and elephants have tough skin, bristle-like hair covering their entire body, teeth that are constinuosly being replaced and “toe” nails on each forelimb.
2. What manatees eat.
Manatees can eat 10-15 percent of their body weight daily. They eat over 60 different species of plants: manatee grass, turtle grass, sea grass, different species of algae, mangrove leaves, and red mangrove seedlings. The adult mammal eats over 100 lbs. in 1 day, but the baby, who is growing, eats 1,200 lbs. each day.
3. Manatees care for their young.
The Florida manatee gives birth to a single young one, known as calf, every 2-5 years. Twins are very rare. A mother will carry her baby for about 12 month before it is born. When born, the baby will weigh nearly 66 pounds. The calf will stay close to the mother for one to two years to learn travel routes and the location of food, rest areas and warm water refuges.
4. How fully aquatic marine mammals communicate.
They do not have external ear lobes, still they can hear pretty well. The sounds emitted by manatees are within the range of human ear. These wonderful animals communicate through chirps, whistles and squeaks called “vocalizations.” Their vocal range is between 0.6 and 16 kHz.
5. Manatees sleep differently than humans do.
Manatees sleep upside down to help their food digest. Whereas we rest for a long period (usually at night), they will rest periodically throughout the day and night for shorter periods. They may rest submerged at the bottom or just below the surface of the water.
6. Sea Cows in Florida never stop loosing their teeth.
They grow new teeth in the back of the mouth which push the teeth in the front of the mouth out. The Florida manatee has no “biting” teeth, only “grinding” teeth. This tooth replacement is an adaptation to their diet, as it consumes plants that may hold a lot of sand.
7. These animals have three fingernails on each flipper.
The bones in a manatee’s flipper are similar to a human hand. The jointed “finger bones” of the flipper help the manatee move through the water, bring food to its mouth, and hold objects. When they get into shallow water the florida manatee walks on its nails.
8. Manatees could live up to 60 years.
They are endangered species, but not due to a short lifespan. Scientists believe that when protected from the problems caused by humans the mammal can live up to 50 or 60 years. The Save the Manatee Club says that most manatees living in the wild do not live past 30 years due to habitat destruction and deaths from injuries caused by boats.
9. Manatees are intelligent.
Compared to their body size they have a very small brain. Look at the florida manatee skull and you can see there is not a lot of room for a big brain. Sea cows have a smaller brain than a dolphin. A small brain does not mean that they are not intelligent. We just do not know how smart they are. Some scientists think that sea cows are a lot smarter than people used to believe. The manatee is smarter than a cow, but probably not as smart as a dolphin.
10. The manatees can fight with each other.
Boy manatees sometimes bump into other boys and shove them around. The boys sometimes push and shove to play. Sometimes the boys will also push and shove because they are fighting over a girl manatee. Nobody gets hurt when sea cows fight. It is just a big shoving match.
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