The West African manatee is found extensively along the west African coastline in a number of countries including Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
How big are African manatees?
African manatees measure up to 4.5 m (15 ft) in length, and weigh about 360 kilograms (790 pounds). African manatees are typically extremely slow, moving between 4.8 km and 8.0 km (3 and 5 mi) per hour, although when scared by predators they can travel at speeds of about 32 km (20 mi) per hour.
How many African manatees are there?
But her excitement is quickly stifled when it turns out to be a piece of wood. For the past 14 years Keith-Diagne has been on a mission to protect the African manatee. There are an estimated 10,000 left, spread across 21 African countries, from the coast of Senegal down to Angola and inland to Chad.
What is a Manatee classified as?
Scientific Classification
Common Name manatee, sea cow Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Mammalia Order Sirenia Family Trichecidae Genus Species. Trichechus inunguis, the Amazonian manatee. The Amazonian manatee is the smallest of the manatees.
Why are African manatees endangered?
So what has caused manatees to become endangered? There are two major threats: loss of habitat and collisions with boats and ships. As new developments are built along waterways, natural nesting areas are destroyed. Sewage, manure, and fertilizer run-off enters the water and causes algal blooms.
Where do manatees live?
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. Manatees are a migratory species. Within the United States, they are concentrated in Florida in the winter.
What is a manatee habitat?
Manatees inhabit rivers, bays, canals, estuaries and coastal areas moving freely between fresh, saline and brackish waters. Manatees cannot tolerate prolonged exposure to very cold water (below 68º F), and in the winter will migrate to areas of warm water for survival. …
Where do Amazonian manatees live?
Manatees are found from the mouth of the Amazon River to the upper reaches of the tributaries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru. Their elongated and flattened rear end, paddle-like fore-limbs and hippo-like snout combine to make this one of the most unusual species in the Amazon.
Are manatees herbivores or carnivores?
Manatees are primarily herbivores. They feed on a wide variety of submerged, emergent, floating, and shoreline vegetation. Manatees in Florida feed on more than 60 species of plants including turtle grass, manatee grass, shoal grass, mangrove leaves, various algae, water hyacinth, acorns, and hydrilla.
Are there manatees in Nigeria?
There are three species of Manatee in the Nigerian waters, and in some West African countries: The Amazonian, the West Indian and the West African. … But it is believed to be endangered in Nigeria due to hunting and incidental capture during fishing operations, including the use of explosives in rivers.
Can you hunt manatees?
Manatees and the law
Manatees are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978. It is illegal to feed, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, annoy, or molest manatees.
What’s being done to protect manatees?
Under The Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act (Ch. 370.12 (2), F.S., the State of Florida is hereby declared to be a refuge and sanctuary for the manatee. The Act authorizes the FWCC to adopt rules regulating the speed and operation of motorboats to protect manatees from harmful collisions and from harassment.
Why are manatees mammals?
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 manatees are using a great deal of energy, they may surface to breathe as often as every 30 seconds.
Can manatees hurt you?
Manatees are calm and peaceful marine mammals that pose no danger to swimmers. In fact, they are curious animals that enjoy human interaction and are quite happy to relate with and be around humans. … Manatees are not known to attack or harm anything.
How old do manatees get?
Manatees reach sexual maturity in 3-5 years (females) and 5-7 years (males) and may live over 65 years in captivity.
Can manatees walk on land?
Manatees were once land animals, but they no longer go on land. Like their cousins, the elephants, they once needed toenails to walk on land.
Are manatees smart?
Though known for having one of the smallest brains, manatees are very intelligent. Even though manatees have the lowest brain-to-body ratio of any marine mammal, a study found that manatees are as adept at experimental tasks as dolphins, one of the smartest animals on the planet.
What are manatees good for?
Manatees can help prevent vegetation from becoming overgrown and they consume water hyacinth and other invasive species, improving the health of the ecosystem. Manatees are also important sources of fertilization for sea grasses and other submerged aquatic vegetation.
Are manatees friendly?
They are outgoing and playful
Although they move carefully in the water, manatees are friendly and easily amused. … And because of their desire for interaction, some manatees will approach you when you snorkel in the water.
Do manatees sleep underwater?
Animals like marine mammals exhibit unihemispheric sleep because they have to come to the surface to breathe. … You can’t truly sleep underwater when you need to breathe air. This means that half their brain gets to rest while the other half remains alert.
Why is it illegal to touch a manatee?
You are not supposed to touch manatees because that can trigger a change in behavior in the animals. Manatees are already an imperiled species because of their easygoing and curious nature, which predisposes them to several risks including being mowed down by speed boats.
Can manatees survive out of water?
Manatees never leave the water but, like all marine mammals, they must breathe air at the surface. … Manatees live in warm waters.
How do manatees breathe?
Although they live in water like fish, manatees, need to breathe air to survive, so they come to the surface frequently to take a breath. And when they do—it’s a big one! Manatees replace 90 percent of the air in their lungs in one breath.
Where do manatees go for the winter?
Beginning in mid-November, Florida manatees seek out more comfortable places to stay for the duration of the winter months. They have been known to hide out in bays, rivers, freshwater springs, and other pockets of inland water. They travel to these areas through rivers and canals.
Why are manatees so fat?
So why do they look fat? The digestive tract of a manatee takes up a large percentage of its body. Being aquatic herbivores, they consume large quantities of vegetation which are accommodated in the stomach and intestines, resulting in their round appearance.
How long can an Amazonian manatee live?
After the calf is born, it will begin to eat while staying with its mother for 12 – 18 months. Two individuals lived 12.5 years in captivity. Wild individuals have a lifespan of about 30 years.
What eats the Amazonian manatee?
Amazon ox manatees are preyed upon by jaguars, sharks, and crocodiles.
What does the Amazonian manatee look like?
The Amazonian manatees colour is brownish grey and they have thick, wrinkled skin, often with coarse hair, or ‘whiskers’. Its main predator is man. The three species of manatees and the closely related Dugong, are unique in that they are the only plant-eating marine mammals in modern times.
How many manatees are left?
As of January 2016, the USFWS estimates the range-wide manatee population to be at least 13,000; as of January 2018, at least 6,100 are estimated to be in Florida.
Where did Snooty the manatee live?
Snooty (July 21, 1948 – July 23, 2017) was a male Florida manatee that resided at the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature’s Parker Manatee Aquarium in Bradenton, Florida.
What did the Manatee evolved from?
Manatees trace their evolutionary lineage to grass-eating land mammals that lived at least 50 million years ago. Their oldest ancestors were pig-like, four-legged animals that looked, improbably, like a cross between a hippopotamus and an otter, as one scientist has described it.
What are baby manatees called?
Baby manatees, known as calves, are born underwater after a gestation of 12-14 months. When they are born, the calf is guided to the surface by its mother so it can take its first breath. Manatee calves stay close to their mother for up to two years.
What can I feed manatees?
Manatees are herbivores, feeding on aquatic vegetation such as seagrass and other submerged, floating, and emergent plants. While seagrass beds may be declining in some areas, there is plenty of vegetation to sustain a healthy manatee population.
Do manatees smell bad?
Manatees are large, benign, vegetarian creatures that spend their lives in the water, although they are mammals, just like whales, or dolphins, or human beings who have not graduated from law school. … 2:15-2:17 p.m. – Emit three to four blooping, aromatic bubbles of manatee gas.
Where can the West Indian manatee be found?
Antillean manatees are found in the Caribbean, in the Gulf and Caribbean coasts of Central America, and in northern and eastern South America. West Indian manatees prefer shallow, slow-moving waters of rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas.
Is it legal to touch a manatee with one hand?
“You cannot put your hands on the manatee and you cannot pursue the manatee. … While they are lovable, gentle slow moving creatures, manatees are protected by state and federal law. You can watch them all you want, but you can’t touch them. You cannot feed them, molest them, harm them, touch them or pursue them.
Why don t alligators eat manatees?
Alligators aren’t a threat to manatees larger than a calf, the FWC said. Attacks on manatees by gators are extremely rare, and manatees’ large size and swimming ability (they’re speedy in the water) make it difficult for alligators to pose a significant threat, according to the FWC.
Is it legal to swim with manatees?
There’s only one place in North America where you legally swim with manatees, and that’s in the Crystal River area— located about 90 minutes north of Tampa, on the west coast of Florida. The headwaters of Crystal River are known as Kings Bay, where the water temperature is a consistent 72 degrees year-round.