The cow of the sea, the original inspiration for mermaids, and one of the friendliest creatures on the planet, is the manatee! This round little blubber of joy is incredible in many ways, so here are some of my personal favorite facts about manatees!
a. They consume about 10-15% of their body weight daily in plants, mainly kelp! They are herbivores who can keep eating and eating and eating, as if there were no tomorrow, typically living in herds so they can graze with their friends!
b. They cannot change direction by turning their head; they have to turn their whole body. The reasoning why is because they have 6 neck vertebrae, making their neck too stubby to really allow any kind of drastic head movement
c. Manatees often swim at the fantastical pace of 5mph, but are able to reach 15 mph in very short bursts! Due to their naturally slow (and very adorable) speed, it is not uncommon for barnacles and algae to grow on these beautiful mammals. They spend most of their time completely under water, able to hold their breath for 20 whole minutes without coming up for air!
d. Adults can be up to 13 feet long and 3,500 pounds! On average, at birth, calves are 4 feet long and weigh around 65 pounds or so. Manatees typically survive around 40 years in the wild and are very trusting creatures, though also very susceptible to stress.
e. My final and most favorite fact is that manatees are so nice and so blubbery that they have no natural predators and are one of the very few animals to hold this title. So what’s the issue? It’s people, our boats are the largest cause for manatee deaths. Because of their trusting nature, especially after we treat manatees kindly with food, they lose all sense of caution when approaching human interaction and get hurt or worse by boats and their propellers.
The next time you are in the shallow water of the Everglades, keep your eyes open for these blubbery big friends! Make sure that you avoid interaction if possible. While this may be hard, just know that it is for the animal’s own good and future protection. We want these gentle creatures to stay around for a long, long time.