Manatees, Almost Useless

 

There is an interesting article in the latest NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Magazine about Manatees. At Crystal River in Florda the Cleawater Aquarium has determined that Manatees are starving in the waterways of Crystal River. They say an adult manatee weighs several hundred pounds need to eat about 100 pounds to survive. And with donations, underwater edible plants the food averages out 50 or so pounds a day. As the director said, “the Manatee are our canary in the coal mine.”. Mine workers used to have a live canary in a cage in the coal mine and when it dropped over dead they knew there were too much loose case to continue.

As far as scientists know manatees are one of two species that have no natural enemies. No other animal wants to eat them. So, they could die off, not by being eaten but starvation. You know they are mammals?

The other mammal that has no know natural enemies is a big creature, about the same size and built as a manatee. They live on sea sides, deserted beaches, and so on. They have big sloppy noses, or beaks. I did not catch the name. It might just be another breed of the manatee.