Caribbean manatee
Caribbean manatee | ||||||||||||
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Caribbean manatee (Florida) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Trichechus manatus | ||||||||||||
Linnaeus , 1758 |
The Caribbean or nail manatee ( Trichechus manatus ) is a species of manatee from the family of manatees (Trichechidae).
distribution
The Caribbean manatee lives on the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as on the Atlantic coasts of Brazil and Venezuela . It lives in shallow coastal waters and often invades the rivers. In South America, a Caribbean manatee swam 800 km inland. Conversely, an animal was once found at sea 15 km from the coast. The manatees wander far and wide and, as an exception, even reach the Atlantic coasts of the USA - Caribbean manatees have already been caught off Virginia and Rhode Island and brought back to the Gulf of Mexico.
Way of life
The food plants are mainly seaweed in salt water and ground nettles in fresh water, but also all other aquatic plants. A manatee eats around a quarter of its body weight per day.
Caribbean manatees are solitary animals. Only between a cow and its calf is there a closer bond. Several manatees sometimes come together to eat or wander; however, these groups have no social hierarchy, and the members of the group do not have any interactions. When a cow is sexually mature, it is visited by one or more bulls. The cow often tries to escape the bulls' attempts to mate and is eventually mated with more or less force.
After a gestation period of twelve months, a single young is born. It is suckled for one to two years. Females become sexually mature at three to four years of age, males a little later. Life expectancy can be over fifty years.
Inventory development
The Caribbean manatee has been hunted for oil and meat since the 16th century. Due to excessive hunting, the species disappeared from the Lesser Antilles as early as the 18th century . Today it is protected everywhere, but the population continues to decline. The IUCN has listed the Caribbean manatee as endangered since 1982.
Although the Caribbean manatee has no natural predators, its habitat in the marshland has been restricted by human influences. Many animals have been and are injured by the propellers of outboard motors. Manatees often swallow fishing gear (hooks, metal weights, etc.) while eating, but this does not seem to harm them except for the suspension lines. However, the lines can become entangled in the animals' digestive tract and cause slow death.
The healthiest population today lives on the coast of Guyana , where there are still several thousand manatees. Also, Suriname and French Guiana have large stocks. However , these manatees have become extremely rare on the coasts of the other states of Central and South America and on the Greater Antilles . In Brazil it has been exterminated with the exception of a few isolated residual populations.
The United States has a population of 6,300 manatees, all of which live in Florida's coastal waters . These are sometimes separated as a separate subspecies (Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris ). Due to protective measures, this is one of the few populations that is growing again.
Manatees often cluster near power plants where the water is warmer. Over time, the animals become dependent on this unnatural source of heat and then no longer migrate to warmer areas in the colder times. After some power plants were shut down recently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, aware of the manatee's dependence on this heat source, investigated ways to heat the water for the animals.
Individual evidence
- ↑ USGS Releases Threats Analysis for Florida Manatees press release of April 9, 2007.
- ↑ West Indian manatee , website US Fish and Wildlife Service (English).
Web links
- Trichechus manatus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Sirenia Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 11 May, 2006.