NUTTY ABOUT NATURE
“Sea Cow-abunga, Dude !”, MANATEES…part 1
If you live in South Florida, you might know all about Florida’s marine mammal, the manatee. We even have a manatee learning center, MANATEE LAGOON, where it is possible to view these gentle giants during the winter months.
Long before this center was built, manatees would gather in this very location to enjoy the warm waters from a power plant outflow. Those that are not privy to this location …well, they do communicate with each other…..head for the equally warm spring-fed Florida rivers. Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and Three Sisters Springs on Crystal River are two of their favorite hang outs and if you are lucky, you may see a manatee or two while moseying merrily down the stream in a kayak. On a very fortuitous day, you might run into a group of manatees enjoying a coffee klatch and exchanging some fishy tales. Actually, manatees are generally solitary souls except when mating and nursing a calf.
Manatees breed approximately every two years. Normally, they produce one calf whose gestation takes 12 months. Normally these 60-70 pound newborn calves take 12 to 18 months to wean. I was amazed to learn that mama manatees’s 2 teats are located under each flipper.
These large flippers are used not only to propel the Manatee through the water, but to “walk” along the ocean floor and to shovel food into their mouths.
Interestingly, their split top lip can move in two independent directions to make it easier for them to tear those tough sea grasses that they love.
Manatees are also referred to as Sea Cows for pretty obvious reasons. They are quite large, weighing in between 1,000 and 1,300 pounds. The females tend to be larger than the males ….you go, girl….and they accumulate this weight dining mostly on vegetation. In order to support this body weight, a Manatee feeds for about 7 hours a day, grazing on water plants in shallow waters. They become so intent on eating that they sometimes stay submerged for up to 20 minutes before surfacing to breathe. Sounds like me when I’m ravaging a Cheetos bag !
Normally, these fully aquatic mammals come up every 3-5 minutes to fill their lungs, which by the way are 2/3 the length of their body ! Wow, they must hear “Look at the set of lungs on that one!” a lot.
Speaking of hearing, Manatees have only little external openings, but they compensate with large internal ears. They do have an extensive sound vocabulary that they use to find a mate, call their calf and gossip, as sea cows are want to do.
Tune in next time for some great home decor items with manatee themes!
Till next time …. BB
