Manatees

             One of the most endangered marine mammals in the United States is the Florida manatee. The manatees Latin name is Trichechus Manatus and under the class Mammalia and order Sirenia. All living manatees can be found in warm tropical and subtropical waters, usually of the coast of Florida, South America, West Africa, and throughout the Caribbean. Manatees inhabit rivers, canals, lagoons, and connected lakes, and estuaries. They can live in Fresh, Salt, and brackish waters; the Amazonian manatees are the only restricted to the fresh waters.
             All manatees are herbivores. They like to eat a variety of vegetation floating or submerged. The feed off of over 60 species of plants, such as turtle grass, manatee grass, shoal grass, mangrove leaves algae, water hyacinth, and water hydrilla. They can eat up to 9% of their own body wait daily, which is about 32 to 108lbs. Although manatees have no documented predators sharks, alligators, and crocodiles have been know to occasionally attack. Some of the Causes of the dyeing off of the manatees are, natural causes, they are susceptible to cold weather, and diseases and parasites. But the highest cause of all are human related. Death of manatees can occur in boat related accident, since the manatees are a dark color and slow swimmers it is very easy for boats to hit them with there propellers. Habitat destruction is another major one, much of the suitable manatees habitats in Florida have been destroyed. Florida manatees have been found with fishing lines and crab lines wra!
             pped around them as well. But there are things we can do about all this to save this wonderful animal.
             Some of the things that have been done to try to help preserve these animals include federal and state laws. This Law forbids hunting, capturing, killing, or harassing these animals. Some of the Laws that include these rules are the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the F
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Manatees . (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:54, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/61447.html