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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]
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.
The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the Eastern United States to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on underwater plants and uses its whiskers to navigate.
The African manatee and the West Indian manatee are more closely related to each other than to the Amazonian manatee. [9] Dugongidae comprises the subfamilies Dugonginae and Hydrodamalinae and the paraphyletic Halitheriinae. The tusks of modern-day dugongs may have originally been used for digging, but they are now used for social interaction.
RIVIERA BEACH — No animal enthralls people quite like the manatee, with their gentle appearance, slow-moving fins and unmistakably charismatic personality.. On Wednesday, March 27 environmental ...
Manatee relative, 700 new species now facing extinction. PATRICK WHITTLE. ... The major threats to the animal are unintentional capture in fishing gear in East Africa and poaching in New Caledonia ...
Manatee babies, it turns out, are pretty much just like any other mammal baby— a smaller, cuter, more rambunctious version of their adult species. And given how cute manatees already are, it’s ...
West Indian manatee. Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four species are endangered. They evolved about 50 million years ago, and their closest living relatives are elephants. The manatees are the only extant afrotherians in the Americas.