Sometimes referred to as sea cows, manatees are infinitely amusing water mammals, but that's pretty much all I knew by myself. Oh and they live in marshes, which is bad for them because boats come through the shallow waters and hurt the manatees. Well, my interest in manatees was recently renewed when a friend of mine posted some manatee pictures from a recent dive.
Here I bring you the knowledge gleaned from my questions to Caleb, marine science major, and manatee semi-expert:
He doesn't know what's up with the eyes, but the nose plugs keep poor Barbara Manatee from breathing in water. He also tells us that manatees are fairly friendly, if a little slow. They tend to be curious or indifferent to the presence of people, and enjoy having their bellies scratched.
Our outside research (aka Wikipedia) adds that they are grazing herbivores and are endangered. They have no natural predators but as I mentioned before they get hurt by boat propellors.
Save the Manatees!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hey, feel free to give me any comments, concerns, or questions. Love to here 'em. Witty responses get bonus points.