Manatee Quick Facts

Description

West Indian manatees are large, gray aquatic mammals with bodies that taper to a flat, paddle-shaped tail.
Because they are mammals, they must surface to breathe air. They may rest submerged at the bottom or just below the surface of the water, coming up to breathe on an average of every three to five minutes. When resting, manatees have been known to stay submerged for up to 20 minutes.
The average adult manatee is about 10 feet long and weighs between 800 and 1,200 pounds.Calves are average of 50 lbs at birth.
They have two forelimbs, called flippers, with three to four nails on each flipper.
Their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the snout. The manatee's closest relatives are the elephant and the hyrax (a small, gopher-sized mammal).
Manatees are believed to have evolved from a wading, plant-eating animal. The West Indian manatee is related to the West African manatee, the Amazonian manatee, the dugong, and Steller's sea cow, which lived in the artic and was hunted to extinction in 1768.

Habitat and Range

Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas — particularly where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish.
Most of their time is spent eating, resting, and traveling. Manatee are mostly herbivorous, however small fish and invertebrates can sometimes be ingested along with a manatee’s normal vegetation diet.
They eat a large variety of submerged, emergent, and floating plants and can consume 10-15% of their body weight in vegetation daily.
In the St. Johns they love to eat the green flat tape grass (valisineria grass) that grows in fresh water.
Manatees are a migratory species. They have very little body fat and have trouble keeping themselves warm in the winter months. To keep themselves warm manatee head south on the river to springs, such as Blue Springs, or head out the mouth of the river into the ocean where they swim south.
If a manatee does get cold they can suffer from cold stress and can become susceptible to infections like pneumonia.
Manatees can swim up to 20 miles per hour in short bursts, but they usually only swim about three to five miles per hour.
West Indian manatees have no natural enemies, and it is believed they can live 60 years or more. As with all wild animal populations, a certain percentage of manatee mortality is attributed to natural causes of death such as cold stress, gastrointestinal disease, pneumonia, and other diseases.
A high number of additional fatalities are from human-related causes. Most human-related manatee fatalities occur from collisions with watercraft.
Other causes of human-related manatee mortality include being crushed and/or drowned in canal locks and flood control structures; ingestion of fish hooks, litter, and monofilament line; and entanglement in crab trap lines.
Ultimately, loss of habitat is the most serious threat facing manatees in the United States today. There is a minimum population count of 4,831 manatees as of January 2014, according to the most recent synoptic survey.

Breeding and Reproduction

The reproductive rate for manatees is low.
Manatees are not sexually mature until they are about five years old. It is believed that one calf is born every two to five years, and twins are rare.
The gestation period is about a year.
Mothers nurse their young for one to two years, during which time a calf remains dependent on its mother.

Legal Protection

West Indian manatees in the United States are protected under federal law by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which make it illegal to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine mammal. West Indian manatees are also protected by the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978. Violations of these federal or state laws can be met with civil or criminal convictions associated with monetary fines and/or imprisonment.
It is illegal to feed manatee or give them water from a hose. These actions change the animal’s natural behavior and can result in harm to the manatee.
It is illegal to swim with or approach a manatee unless you are in a supervise perk such as crystal springs.
If you see a manatee that is in need of help call FWC 1-888-FWCC

Conservation

The Florida Manatee Recovery Plan was developed as a result of the Endangered Species Act. The recovery plan is coordinated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and sets forth a list of tasks geared toward recovering manatees from their current endangered status.

In October of 1989, Florida's Governor and Cabinet directed the state’s wildlife agency to work with 13 "key" manatee counties in Florida to reduce injuries and deaths. These 13 counties were: Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Collier, Dade, Duval, Indian River, Lee, Martin, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Sarasota, and Volusia. Over the years, these 13 county governments have worked with the state to develop site-specific boat speed zones to reduce the likelihood of watercraft collisions and to implement comprehensive manatee protection plans (MPP) for each county. Other conservation measures deemed important to saving manatees include: research addressing biology, mortality, population and distribution, behavior, and habitat of manatees; implementation of management plans; posting of regulatory speed signs and levying of fines for excess speeds in designated areas; manatee education and public awareness programs; and public acquisition of critical habitat and creation of sanctuaries.

See more at: http://www.savethemanatee.org/manfcts.htm#sthash.2Dk65hWJ.dpuf