When it comes to cattle, I think everyone must be familiar with it, and they will immediately think of bison, domestic cattle, etc. living on land. But manatee do you understand? According to research, manatees were originally "residents" on land and distant relatives of elephants. Forced to go to the sea to earn a living due to changes in nature or lack of herding ability. It now has a 25 million-year-old marine history and is a rare marine mammal. There are only 1 family and 1 genus and 3 species. They are: American manatee, Amazon manatee and African manatee.
Manatees are the only mammals that eat aquatic plants. The large lips of the manatee are curlable and studded with specialized sensory manes and hairs (tentacles) for distinguishing and manipulating edible plants. Most aquatic plants have low energy values and protein compared to fish and shrimp eaten by other marine mammals. Therefore, manatees must eat large amounts of this low-energy food to meet their thermal energy needs. Manatees can hold their breath underwater for up to 20 minutes. With each breath, they replenish about 90% of the air in the lungs. (By comparison, humans only replenish about 10 percent.) This diverse adaptability is able to forage for a variety of sea plants, including aquatic seaweed, floating plants, mangrove leaves, and coastal grasses.
Manatees have a very low metabolic rate, which may be related to their long-term consumption of low-energy foods, where they can store large amounts of fat under their skin and maintain body temperature in seawater. Many Florida manatees also migrate south during the winter months. Amazon manatees migrate in response to water level fluctuations during the rainy and dry seasons. They can be isolated in the pool when the surrounding water recedes, and in these cases can be fasted for up to seven months by slowly metabolizing stored fats.
Manatees have a long lifespan and slow reproduction. It lives for up to 59 years, with one manatee surviving in captivity for more than 69 years. Manatees produce one calf every two to three years and rarely twins. Although young manatees start eating plants at a very young age, manatees accompany their children for up to two years. Mother and calf, communicating through sound, produce faint underwater chirps, squeaks and grunts. Manatees also communicate with tactile reception by using the sensory hairs scattered across the body and the touches of the lips. Hatchling occurs at age three and gestation is about a year or more.
The biggest threat to manatees comes from humans. In the 17th century, the hunting of meat, the production of "mixtra" dishes, the needs of the leather industry, the destruction of habitats, the leakage of crude oil pollution and mining, fishing net waste plastic entangled in death. Coupled with the low reproductive rate of shanghai cattle, it is already in danger of extinction. Since the 1980s, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed all three manatees as vulnerable species. Amazon and West African manatees are estimated to be 8,000-30,000 heads, respectively. The Antillean manatee may be less than: 2,500 head. The florida number is thought to be about 2,300 heads.
Wallface thought:
Humans are destroying the planet, changing the planet's climate, polluting the atmosphere, oceans, fresh water and soil, and driving thousands of species to extinction. More than three-quarters of the earth's land has been changed to farms, pastures, cities, and other human infrastructure, or land that is divided into smaller plots. We are pushing other life on Earth to the margins. More than 90% of the mammal population on Earth today is made up of humans, livestock and pets.
One thing is for sure, to protect the diversity of living things is to benefit the future of mankind!