Genus: Trichechus Manatees Sea Cows Dugongs
Mar 29, 2015
Genus: Trichechus ManateesSea CowsDugongs
Florida has the West Indian Manatee
Have a pair of front flippers and a paddle-shaped tail
Swim using up and down motion of tail
Vegetarians Minimum population
4,480 manatees, as of January 2011.
Round body, well padded with blubber
Wrinkled skin with few scattered hairs
Strictly aquatic Mammals
Slow-moving yet graceful underwater
Live in peaceful groups
About 1300 pounds
4.5 m (15 feet) long
Most closely related to elephants
Steller’s Sea Cow – Largest Sirenian; Extinct in 1768
Slaughtered for meat Huge – 25 feet
Sirenians utilized for their meat, hide and oil-rich blubber
Reproduce slowly – 1 calf every 3 years
The coast of Georgia is usually the northernmost range of the West Indian Manatee
Prolonged exposure to water temperatures below 68 °F (20 °C) can cause death.
Florida manatees can move freely between salinity extremes.
Dugong – strictly marine From East Africa Numbers are critically
low
Manatee - T. manatus in green Amazonian Manatee - T. inunguis in
red Dugong - T. senegalenis in orange