Facts About Florida Manatees

A west indian manatee always curious investigates a kayak in florida.

Facts about florida manatees. If you are from europe egypt is the closest destination to see a sea cow. Florida manatees are large aquatic mammals that are native to florida. Mwanner via wikimedia commons. Often referred to as sea cows manatees are large marine mammals generally about 10 feet long and weighing between 800 and 1 200 pounds.

Their front flippers help them steer or sometimes crawl through shallow water. Manatees go to the surface of the water every three to five minutes to breathe although they. A west indian manatee can weigh more than 1 200 pounds. However they may grow to over 13 feet long and weigh more than 3 500 pounds.

Their closest relatives are the elephants. This includes waters from virginia to florida and occasionally as far west as texas. Manatees are related to elephants not dolphins or whales. Manatees are herbivores which means they only feed on plants.

In 2010 at least 246 manatees died in florida due to cold stress from the colder than normal winter. The antillean subspecies is very similar but is distinguishable from the florida manatee by measurement differences of cranial characters between the species. In the u s manatees are found primarily in water above 68 degrees fahrenheit. They live in waters that are about 10 16 feet deep and these waters can be freshwater saltwater or brackish.

According to national geographic a manatee can eat a tenth of its own weight in 24 hours. Manatee was a 4 leg land mammal 60 million years ago. Manatees have two fore limb flippers that they use for steering movements and to hold vegetation while eating. Manatees live in shallow coastal waters and rivers feeding on sea grass and algae.

As herbivores they can eat about ten percent of their body weight every day and are chomping a good portion of the day. Florida manatees generally grow to around 3 metres 10 feet but range in length from about 2 5 to 3 9 metres 8 to 13 feet and weigh up to 1 655 kg 3 650 pounds. Manatees are grayish brown in color and have thick wrinkled skin on which there is often a growth of algae. The florida manatees population is about 6200 nowadays.

Adult manatees are typically 9 10 feet long from snout to tail and weigh around 1 000 pounds. Seven fun facts about manatees. Florida manatees congregate at power plant discharge pipes where the water is. That can equal up to 130 lbs.

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