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Manatee
Antillean manatee
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Eutheria
Order:	Sirenia
Family:	Trichechidae Gill, 1872
Genus:	Trichechus Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Trichechus inunguis Trichechus manatus Trichechus senegalensis Trichechus "pygmaeus" (validity questionable)

Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 3.6 metres (12 ft)), and have paddle-like flippers. The name manatí comes from the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning "breast".

Taxonomy

Manatees comprise three of the four living species in the order Sirenia. The 4th is the Eastern Hemisphere's dugong. The Sirenia are thought to have evolved from four-legged land mammals over 60 million years ago, with the closest living relatives being the Proboscidea (elephants) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes).

The Amazonian's hair color is brownish gray and they have thick, wrinkled skin, often with coarse hair, or "whiskers." Photos are rare; although very little is known about this species, scientists think they are similar to West Indian Manatees. The name in Songhay, the local language, is "ayyu".

Description

Manatees have a mass of 400 to 550 kilograms (880 to 1,210 lb), and mean length of 2.8 to 3 metres (9.2 to 9.8 ft), with maximums of 3.6 metres (12 ft) and 1,775 kilograms (3,913 lb) seen (the females tend to be larger and heavier). When born, baby manatees have an average mass of 30 kilograms (66 lb). They have a large flexible prehensile upper lip. They use the lip to gather food and eat, as well as using it for social interactions and communications. Manatees have shorter snouts than their fellow sirenians, the dugongs. Their small, widely-spaced eyes have eyelids that close in a circular manner. Manatees are believed to see in color. The adults have no incisor or canine teeth, just a set of cheek teeth, which are not clearly differentiated into molars and premolars. Uniquely among mammals, these teeth are continuously replaced throughout life, with new teeth growing at the rear as older teeth fall out from farther forward in the mouth. At any given time, a manatee typically has no more than six teeth in each jaw of its mouth. Its tail is paddle-shaped, and is the clearest visible difference between manatees and dugongs; a dugong tail is fluked, similar in shape to a that of a whale.

Like horses, they have a simple stomach, but a large cecum, in which they can digest tough plant matter. In general, their intestines are unusually long for animals of their size.

Life history

Half a manatee's day is spent sleeping in the water, surfacing for air regularly at intervals no greater than 20 minutes. Manatees spend most of the rest of the time grazing in shallow waters at depths of 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft). The Florida subspecies (T. m. latirostris) has been known to live up to 60 years.

Swimming

On average, manatees swim at about 5 to 8 kilometres per hour (3.1 to 5.0 mph). However, they have been known to swim at up to 30 kilometres per hour (19 mph) in short bursts.

Intelligence

Manatees are capable of understanding discrimination tasks, and show signs of complex associated learning and advanced long term memory. They demonstrate complex discrimination and task-learning similar to dolphins and pinnipeds in acoustic and visual studies.

Reproduction

Manatees typically breed once every two years, gestation lasts about 12 months, and it takes a further 12 to 18 months to wean the calf. Only a single calf is born at a time and aside from mothers with their young or males following a receptive female, manatees are generally solitary creatures.

Ecology

Range and habitat

Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (T. manatus, West Indian Manatee), the Amazon Basin (T. inunguis, Amazonian Manatee), and West Africa (T. senegalensis, West African Manatee). A fourth species, the Dwarf Manatee (T. "pygmaeus"), was recently proposed for a population found in the Brazilian Amazon, although some believe it to be an immature Amazon Manatee.

They enjoy warmer waters and are known to congregate in shallow waters, and frequently migrate through brackish water estuaries to freshwater springs. Manatees cannot survive below 15°C (288 K; 60°F). Their natural source for warmth during winter is warm-spring fed rivers.

West Indian

The coast of Georgia is usually the northernmost range of the West Indian Manatee because their low metabolic rate does not protect them in cold water. Prolonged exposure to water temperatures below 68 °F (20 °C) can bring about "cold stress syndrome" and death.

Florida manatees can move freely between salinity extremes.

Manatees have been spotted as far north as Cape Cod, and as recently as the late summer of 2006, one made it up to New York City and Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, as cited by The Boston Globe. According to Memphis, Tennessee's The Commercial Appeal newspaper, one manatee was spotted in the Wolf River harbor near the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on October 23, 2006, though it was later found dead ten miles downriver in McKellar Lake.

The West Indian Manatee migrates into Florida rivers such as the Crystal River, the Homosassa River, and the Chassahowitzka River. The head springs of these rivers maintain a 22°C (299 K; 72°F) temperature year round. During November to March, approximately 400 West Indian Manatees (according to the National Wildlife Refuge) congregate in the rivers in Citrus County, Florida.

During the winter months, manatees often congregate near the warm water outflows of power plants along the coast of Florida instead of migrating south as they once did, causing some conservations to worry that they have have become too reliant on these artificially-warmed areas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to find a new way to heat the water for manatees that are dependent on plants that have closed. The main water treatment plant in Guyana has four manatees that keep storage canals clear of weeds; there are also some in the ponds of The National Park in Georgetown, Guyana.

Studies suggest that Florida manatees must have some access to fresh water for proper osmoregulation.

Accurate population estimates of the Florida manatee (T. manatus) are notoriously difficult and have been called scientifically weak; with widely varying counts from year to year, some areas show increases and others decreases, with very little strong evidence of increases except in 2 areas. Manatee counts are highly variable without an accurate way to estimate numbers:in Florida in 1996, a winter survey found 2,639 manatees; in 1997 a January survey found 2,229; and a February survey found 1,706. A statewide synoptic survey in January, 2010 found 5067 manatees living in Florida—a new record count.

Population viability studies carried out in 1997 found that decreasing adult survival and eventual extinction is a probable future outcome for Florida manatees, without additional protection.

Fossil remains of Florida manatee ancestors date back about 45 million years.

Amazonian

The freshwater Amazonian Manatee (T. inunguis) inhabits the Amazon River and its tributaries. Amazonian Manatees (T. inunguis) never venture into salt water.

West African

They are found in coastal marine and estuarine habitats, and in freshwater river systems along the west coast of Africa from the Senegal River south to the Kwanza River in Angola, including areas in Gambia, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They live as high upriver on the Niger River as Gao, Mali.

Communication

They emit a wide range of sounds used in communication, especially between cows and their calves. Adults communicate to maintain contact and during sexual and play behaviors. Taste and smell, in addition to sight, sound, and touch, may also be forms of communication.

Diet

Manatees are herbivores and eat over 60 different plant species such as mangrove leaves, turtle grass, and types of algae, using their divided upper lip. An adult manatee will commonly eat up to 10% of its body weight (approx 50 kg) per day. Manatees have been known to eat small amounts of fish from nets.

Predation

Manatees have few natural predators. Nevertheless, sharks , crocodiles and alligators have been known to prey on manatees from time to time. Overall, however, predation does not present a significant threat to the survival of any manatee species.

Relation to humans

Threats

The main causes of death for the sea cows are human-related issues, habitat destruction, human objects, and natural causes such as temperatures and disease.

Ship strikes

Their slow-moving, curious nature, coupled with dense coastal development, has led to many violent collisions with propellers from fast moving recreational motor boats, leading frequently to maiming, disfigurement, and even death. As a result, a large proportion of manatees exhibit propeller scars on their backs. They are now even identified by humans based on their scar patterns. Some are concerned that the current situation is inhumane, with upwards of 50 scars and disfigurements from boat strikes on a single manatee. Often the cuts lead to infections, which can prove fatal. Internal injuries stemming from hull impacts have also been fatal.

Manatees hear on a higher frequency than what would be expected for such large marine mammals. Many large boats emit very low frequencies which confuse the manatee and explain their lack of awareness around boats. National Geographic has done experiments proving that when a boat has a higher frequency the manatees rapidly swim away from danger.

In 2003, a population model was released by the U.S. Geological Survey that predicted an extremely grave situation confronting the manatee in both the Southwest and Atlantic regions where the vast majority of manatees are found. It states,

“In the absence of any new management action, that is, if boat mortality rates continue to increase at the rates observed since 1992, the situation in the Atlantic and Southwest regions is dire, with no chance of meeting recovery criteria within 100 years.”

A 2007 University of Florida study found that more than half of boat drivers in Volusia County, Florida, sped through marked conservation zones despite their professed support for the endangered animals. Little difference was found among the ski boats, pontoons, and fishing vessels. In the study, 84 percent of the 236 people who responded claimed to obey speed limits in manatee zones during their most recent boating experience, but observers found that only 45 percent actually complied.

"Hurricanes, cold stress, red tide poisoning and a variety of other maladies threaten manatees, but by far their greatest danger is from watercraft strikes, which account for about a quarter of Florida manatee deaths," said study curator John Jett.

The current main threat in the United States is being struck by boats or slashed by propellers. Sometimes manatees can live through strikes, and over fifty deep slashes and permanent scars have been observed on some manatees off the Florida coast. However, the wounds are often fatal, and the lungs may even pop out through the chest cavity.

According to marine mammal veterinarians:

"The severity of mutilations for some of these individuals can be astounding - including long term survivors with completely severed tails, major tail mutilations, and multiple disfiguring dorsal lacerations. These injuries not only cause gruesome wounds, but may also impact population processes by reducing calf production (and survival) in wounded females - observations also speak to the likely pain and suffering endured". In an example, they cited one case study of a small calf "with a severe dorsal mutilation trailing a decomposing piece of dermis and muscle as it continued to accompany and nurse from its mother...by age 2 its dorsum was grossly deformed and included a large protruding rib fragment visible."

These veterinarians go on to state:

"the overwhelming documentation of gruesome wounding of manatees leaves no room for denial. Minimization of this injury is explicit in the Recovery Plan, several state statutes, and federal laws, and implicit in our society's ethical and moral standards."

In 2009, of the 429 Florida manatees recorded dead, 97 were killed by watercraft, which broke the earlier record number of 95 set in 2002.

Red Tide

Another cause of manatee deaths is the red tide, a term used for the proliferation, or "blooms", of the microscopic marine algae of the species Karenia brevis, a member of the dinoflagellates that produces brevetoxins that can have toxic affects on the central nervous system of creatures in the area of the algae bloom.

In 1996, a red tide was responsible for 151 manatee deaths.The epidemic began on March 5 and continued through April 28, wiping out approximately 15% of the known west coast population of manatees. In 1982, another outbreak resulted in 37 deaths and in 2005, 44 more deaths were attributed to the blooms.

Additional threats

More recently, the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has refocused concerns on the survival of these mammals. Particularly, zoologists are keeping a lookout for a group of manatees that usually migrate into the Gulf during the summer months. The 1,200-pound mammals could be catastrophically affected, and experts are concerned about their ability to rescue and rehabilitate these animals.

Manatees occasionally ingest fishing gear (hooks, metal weights, etc.) while feeding. These foreign materials do not appear to harm manatees, except for monofilament line or string, which can clog its digestive system and slowly kill it.

Manatees can also be crushed in water control structures (navigation locks, floodgates, etc.), drown in pipes and culverts, and are occasionally killed by entanglement in fishing gear, primarily crab pot float lines. Manatees are also vulnerable to red tides—blooms of algae, often caused by pollution, which leaches oxygen from the water.

While humans are allowed to swim with manatees in one area of Florida, there have been numerous charges of people harassing and disturbing the manatees. The law permitting swimming with wild manatees may be soon repealed.

The African manatee's only significant threats are due to poaching, habitat loss, and other environmental impacts. They occasionally get stranded as the river dries up at the end of rainy season and are cooked for a meal.

Conservation

All three species of manatee are listed by the World Conservation Union as vulnerable to extinction.

It is illegal under federal and Florida law to injure or harm a manatee. On June 8, 2006, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to downgrade its status to "threatened" in that state. While none of the state laws protecting manatees have changed, many wildlife conservationists are not pleased with the decision. Manatees remain classified as "endangered" at the federal level.

The MV Freedom Star and MV Liberty Star, ships used by NASA to tow Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters back to Kennedy Space Center, are propelled only by water jets to protect the endangered manatee population that inhabits regions of the Banana River where the ships are based.

Brazil outlawed hunting in 1973 in an effort to preserve the species. Deaths by boat strikes are still common.

Hunting

Manatees were traditionally hunted by indigenous Caribbean people. When Christopher Columbus arrived in the region, hunting was already an established trade, although this is less common today.

The primary hunting method was for the hunter to approach in a dugout canoe, offering bait to attract it close enough to temporarily stun it with a blow near the head from an oar-like pole. Many times the creature would flip over, leaving it vulnerable to further attacks.

From manatee hides Native Americans made war shields, canoes, and shoes, though the manatee was predominantly hunted for its abundant meat.

Later, manatees were hunted for their bones, which were used to make "special potions." Up until the 1800s, museums paid as much as $100 for bones or hides. Though hunting was banned in 1893, poaching continues today.

Captivity

The oldest manatee in captivity is Snooty who is held at the South Florida Museum. He was born at the Miami Seaquarium on July 21, 1948, and came to the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida, in 1949.

Manatees can also be viewed in a number of European zoos, such as the Tierpark in Berlin, the Nuremberg Zoo, in Beaval Park Zoo in France and in the Aquarium of Genoa in Italy.

They are also included within the new plans for a National Wildlife Conservation Park in Bristol, England which is due to open in 2010 with the manatees as an addition in 2015.

Culture

The manatee has been linked to folklore on mermaids. Native Americans ground the bones to treat asthma and earache. In West African folklore, they were sacred and thought to have been once human. Killing one was taboo and required penance.

Notes

1. "What's in a name? Manatees and Dugongs". Smithsonian National Zoological Park. 2000. Retrieved May 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
2. Domning, D.P., 1994, Paleontology and evolution of sirenians: Status of knowledge and research needs, in Proceeding of the 1st International Manatee and Dugong Research Conference, Gainesville, Florida, 1-5)
3. ^ Best, Robin (1984). Macdonald, D. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 292–298. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
4. Gerstein, E.R., 1994, The manatee mind: Discrimination training for sensory perception testing of West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus), Mar. Mammals, 1: 10-21.)
5. ^ (Marine Mammal Medicine, 2001, Leslie Dierauf & Frances Gulland, CRC Press)
6. van Roosmalen, Marc G.H., Pim van Hoft, and Hans H. van Iongh. "New Species: Dwarf Manatee".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. Trials of a Primatologist. - smithsonianmag.com. Accessed March 15, 2008.
8. Basu, Rebecca (1 March 2010). "Winter is culprit in manatee death toll". Melbourne, Florida: Florida Today. pp. 1A.
9. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/07/100913/can-manatees-survive-without-warm-waters-from-powe/
10. (U.S. Marine Mammal Commission 1999)
11. "Exceptional weather conditions lead to record high manatee count" (Press release). Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. January 20, 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
12. (Marmontel, Humphrey, O'Shea 1997, Population Variability Analysis of the Florida Manatee, 1976-1992, Conserv. biol., 11: 467-481)
13. Powell, James (1978). "Evidence for carnivory in manatee (Trichechus manatus)". Journal of Mammalogy. 59 (2): 442. doi:10.2307/1379938.
14. Florida boaters killing endangered manatees
15. Manatees hard of hearing
16. Long Term Prospects for Manatee Recovery Look Grim, According To New Data Released By Federal Government
17. Most boaters speed through manatee conservation zones
18. "Manatee Mortality Statistics". Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
19. "Manatee Deaths From Boat Strikes Approach Record: Club Asks For Boaters' Urgent Help". Save the Manatee Club. Retrieved May 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
20. Flewelling, LJ; Naar, JP; Abbott, JP; Baden, DG; Barros, NB; Bossart, GD; Bottein, MY; Hammond, DG; Haubold, EM (9 June 2005). "Brevetoxicosis: Red tides and marine mammal mortalities". Nature. 435 (435): 755–756. doi:10.1038/nature435755a. PMC 2659475. PMID 15944690. Retrieved May 2010. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
21. "Beachgoers Beware: Red Tide Outbreaks in Florida". Save the Manatee Club. Retrieved May 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
22. "Scientists Say Toxin in Red Tide Killed Scores of Manatees". New York Times. July 5, 1996. Retrieved May 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
23. "Mystery epidemic killing manatees". Local & State. April 9, 1996. p. 38. Retrieved May 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
24. Savethemanatee.org - Help End Manatee Harassment in Citrus County, Florida!
25. St. Petersburg Times - Manatee Abuse Caught on Tape
26. FWC Manatee Program
27. Hunting for Manatees
28. Cooper, JC (1992). Symbolic and Mythological Animals. London: Aquarian Press. p. 157. ISBN 1-85538-118-4.

External links

• Murie, James On the form and structure of the Manatee (Manatus americanus), (1872) London, Zoological Society of London Year
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
• Reuters: Florida manatees may lose endangered status
• A website with many manatee photos
• USGS/SESC Sirenia Project
• Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia - Dr. Domning's authoritative manatee research bibliography

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• Sirenians