FLORIDA MANATEE

Status: Endangered.

Description: Gray-brown walrus-shaped sea cow. Two small front flippers with three to four nails each are used for steering or crawling on the ocean floor. The flat, horizontal tail pumps up and down to move them along. Small eyes, no ears on the outside and nostrils at the tip of their prickly muzzles. Almost all manatees have scars on their tails and backs from collision with boats and barges. Scientists use these scar patterns to identify them.

Size: Length: up to 13 feet. Weight: up to 3,000 pounds.

Habitat: Warm, shallow rivers, bays, estuaries and coastal waters. Usually don't live in waters that are below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Often found in the warm waters released by power plants.

Range:Live in Florida's coastal waters during winter and migrate either as far north as North or South Carolina or as far west as Louisiana during summer months.

Food Source: Manatees are herbivores and eat marine and freshwater plants.

Population: 1200 individuals.

Longevity: 50-60 years in the wild.

Behavior: Gentle, slow-moving, graceful swimmers. Rest and feed often; no defense system. Body surf or barrel roll when playing. Squeal underwater to communicate fear, stress or excitement to one another. Sailors once thought manatees were the mythical sirens, or mermaids, because of their shape and squeals. Surface every ten minutes to breathe. Manatees can hold their breath underwater for up to 20 minutes.

Reproduction: Females can have calves when they are about four years old. One calf is born every 3 to 4 years. Mothers and calves form a strong bond.

Survival Threats: Habitat loss, collision with boats and barges, crushing or drowning in flood control gates, chemical and plastic pollution, harassment from people, diseases due to cold waters.

Natural History: Other relatives in the order Serenia are the West Indian manatee, West African manatee, Amazonian manatee, dugong and the extinct Steller's sea cow. Sirenians descended from four-footed plant-eating terrestrial (land) mammals. The elephant is the closes land relative of the manatee.

Legal Protection: CITES, appendix I. Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act.

Conservation: Creation of marine sanctuaries, legal protection, lower speed limits for boats and barges, research on biology, population and behavior, public education.