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The manatee's tail is paddle-shaped, and is the clearest visible difference between manatees and dugongs; a dugong tail is fluked, similar in shape to that of a whale. The manatee is unusual among mammals in having just six cervical vertebrae, [9] a number that may be due to mutations in the homeotic genes. [10]
It is divided into two subspecies, the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) in the United States and the Antillean manatee (T. m. manatus) in the Caribbean, [8] [9] both of which are endangered and face pressure from habitat loss, pollution, and other human activity. The West Indian manatee is the largest living member of the sirenians (order ...
The dugong (/ ˈ d (j) uː ɡ ɒ ŋ /; Dugong dugon) is a marine mammal.It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees.It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century.
Manatee captive-fed diets vary greatly from the manatee's diet in the wild. In captivity, manatees are fed 70–80% leafy green vegetables, 10–20% dried forage, and 5% vegetables and fruits. [ 63 ] Dried forage is foods such as hay and timothy grass, which are often used as horse and cattle feed.
The Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) is a species of manatee that lives in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. [2] It has thin, wrinkled brownish or gray colored skin, with fine hairs scattered over its body and a white chest patch. [4] [5] It is the smallest of the three extant species of manatee. [6]
The weight estimates are based around the relation between skeletal and total body mass of modern mammals. Notably, whales have much lighter skeletons compared to their total mass, whereas sirenians (dugongs and manatees) are similar to land mammals in having much denser skeletons that contribute more to their total weight. Bianucci and ...
Drawing of skeleton. E. libyca and an extant manatee by Charles R. Knight, 1907 Size of Eosiren (purple) compared to other Eocene sirenians and a human.. Eosiren is an extinct genus of sea cow that lived during the Late Eocene (later Priabonian) to Early Oligocene (). [1]
Size of Protosiren (red) compared to three other Eocene sirenian taxa and a human. Like the extant sirenians (manatee and dugong), Protosiren is thought to have fed on sea grasses as well as freshwater plants. Unlike extant sirenians, Protosiren had hind limbs.