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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.
In winter, manatees often gather near the warm-water outflows of power plants along the Florida coast, instead of migrating south as they once did. Some conservationists are concerned that these manatees have become too reliant on these artificially warmed areas. [42] Accurate population estimates of the West Indian manatee in Florida are ...
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 extant 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 ...
The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae (the dugong and the now extinct Steller's sea cow) and Trichechidae (manatees, namely the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee) with a total of four species. [2] The Protosirenidae (Eocene sirenians) and Prorastomidae (terrestrial sirenians) families are ...
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 latest estimate for this population is 35 individuals. [18] West Indian manatee, an aquatic mammal of Puerto Rico. Arguably the best known of aquatic mammals occurring in Puerto Rican waters is the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) which is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. The archipelago's waters are one of the species' main ...
the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris): subspecies living only in North America and studied particularly closely; [141] the West Indian monk seal ( Monachus tropicalis ): observed for the last time in 1952, the species is officially considered extinct since 1986 by the IUCN. [ 142 ]
Amazonian manatee Dugong West Indian manatee. Sirenians, along with Proboscidea (elephants), group together with the extinct Desmostylia and likely the extinct Embrithopoda to form the Tethytheria. Tethytheria is thought to have evolved from primitive hoofed mammals ("condylarths") along the shores of the ancient Tethys Ocean.