Fun Facts
Manatees
- "sometimes called sea cows"
- called "sea cows" because "they are gentle" and move "slowly like cows"
- also called "sea cows" because the eat grass "like cows"
- "relatives of elephants"
- "mammals"
- "have to surface" in order to breathe
- "Four species"
-"The Florida manatee"
-"The Amazonian manatee"
-"The West African manatee"
- "push food toward their mouth with whiskers"
- "help clear waterways by eating plants"
- "calves born underwater"
- "can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes"
- "skin is thick and wrinkled"
- adults can be "8 to 13 feet long"
- adults can swim "5 to 8 kilometers per hour"
- adults can weigh "440 to 1,300 pounds"
- called "marine mammals"
- can live in "fresh or salt water"
- Because manatees are wet and are almost always in the sunlight, algae grow on them. Algae grows on "wet" surfaces and on places with a "lot of sunlight."
- can have twins, but this is rare
- largest even seen was "3,500"
- can live up to "40 years"
- "endotherm or animals" that can "control the" amount of "internal heat it produces." An animal that is an endotherm "regulates its own temperature."
- "molars" help them "grind up their food"
- "the bones in its flipper are similar to" the bones "in a human hand"