Manatee is externally similar to a small whale, it is also like a whale refers to a mammal, not a fish. The life of the American manatee takes place in the rivers of the West Indies, Mexico, Florida and Central America. The length of the manatee reaches 2.5-4 meters. The structure of his body looks like fish, but his tail has cardinal differences with fish – it is shovel-shaped, wide, with rounded edges.
The habitat of manatees – bays, lagoons, large rivers, but not the open sea. They mostly stay in shallow water. If the manatees are not busy feeding, they lie closer to the bottom. When the depth of the water allows, they can often be seen floating at the surface with a rounded back over the water, and they hide the head, limbs and tail in the water.
Food manatees – purely vegetarian – plants that grow in shallow water. With the help of fins, food is transferred to the mouth. For a day, one manatee consumes between 27 and 45 kilograms of food. Another name for manatees – sea cows, was given because they are like cows, grazing in shallow water, often at the same time straying into small herds.
Manatees, as a rule, give birth to one baby, but there may be twins. Feeding the baby is this way: the mother rises in a dense to the surface of the water and, sticking out her head and shoulders, presses the manatee fins to the chest.
Adult individuals move slowly enough, they are absolutely harmless. However, in some places hunting for manatees is still thriving because of their meat, fat and skins.
