Manatee
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                  One of the most endangered aquatic species, the manatee gives birth every other year at most.  It keeps waterways free of vegetation by consuming large amounts of food. Exploited for its meat and hide since the eighteenth century, the harmless manatee is now a protected species. Certain parts of the world value its voracious appetite for underwater plants, which keeps vital waterways clear of choking vegetation..
              Facts and Knowledge:
                Habitat: The manatee favors muddy bays, lagoons, slow rivers, and estuaries.  It prefers water temperatures of 68ºF or above, since it cannot survive in temperatures below 46ºF.  It migrates in the water to warmer spots.  The Amazonian manatee lives only in fresh water, but the other two species can survive in both fresh and saltwater.  The manatee occurs singly or in small family groups, but during tropical cold spells large numbers gather around heated water from power plants or the warm outflow of a spring.  They float vertically in the water during cold mornings with just their snouts showing.

                As the sun gets hotter, more of their bodies rise above the surface.  In large groups, manatees have been observed pressing their big snouts together as if kissing, in what is thought to be a greeting gesture.  The manatee is a mammal, so it comes to the water's survive to breathe.  It can stay submerged for up to 15 minutes but usually surfaces at 5  to 10 minutes intervals. It cannot survive out of water because it can't move, and its body weight makes its impossible to breathe without water support.

                 Breeding: The manatee reproduces slowly. The female gives birth to a single calf every other year at most.  Groups of males gather around a female ready to mate, nuzzling her and attempting to push rivals away.  She may mate with more than one male.  More than a year later, she gives birth underwater, immediately bringing the calf up to the surface on her back to takes its first breath.  She suckles the calf for 12 to 18 months, feeding it vegetation as well.

                Food & Feeding:  The manatee needs large amounts of food to maintain its great weight.  Its eats 8 to 15% of its own body weight each day. Its dense bulk keeps it steady in the water as it feeds.  The manatee usually feeds while submerged, but its sometimes rises above the water.
                Manatee & Man: The manatee has no natal enemies. It is man who has brought the manatee to its current vulnerable state.  The Manatee has long been hunted for its meat, hide and oil. Between 1838 and 1942, several thousand manatee hides and countless cans of meat were reported from Brazil.  More recently, pollution and loss of habitat through the damming of waterways have threatened the manatee's existence  Manatees are slow moving, inquisitive animals, and great number of them has sustained injury or have died after being caught in the propellers of high speed boats.
                Key Facts: Sizes, Weight, breeding, lifestyle, related Species
                Length:  15 ft, Average 8-15 ft
                Weight: up to 1500 lbs
                Breeding:
                Sexual maturity: 4-8 years
                Mating: Anytime of year
                Gestation: 1 year
                No of young Usually 1, occasionally twins.

                Lifestyle:
                Habit: Generally solitary, or small groups, Larger groups form in cool waters.
                Diet: Aquatic vegetation
                Life span: 30 years or more
                Distribution: Tropical and subtropical waters of southwestern United States, as far as west as Texas. Also off West Indies and along coast of northern South America.
                Conservation: In Listed as  vulnerable by the World Conservation Union, it has legal protection in most countries, but its protection is not always enforced.

                Did you know:
                Spanish colonist in the West Indies named the manatee from Mano, meaning "to hold."
                Known as sea sows, manatees and the related dugong-members of the Sirenian family, re the only mammals that eat sea vegetation.
                The manatee's intestines measure more than 150 feet long.
                The manatees uses it extremely sensitive mouth when searching for food and when communicating and bonding with other manatees, which is called mouthing.
                Nearly all mammals have seven neck vertebrae, the manatee has only six.

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