"Mermaid" is a common name for dugongs and is also a more widely known name.
So, are dugongs and manatees the same animal? They do look very similar and belong to the same order of manatees, but they are also two different species.
On how to tell the difference between dugongs and manatees
Dugongs belong to the order Manatee, Dugong family, dugong genus, single species, no subspecies. The most easily distinguishable part of its appearance from the manatee is the tail, which is similar in shape to the dolphin's tail, with a horizontal, slightly triangular tail and a missing inscription in the center of the posterior margin.
The manatee belongs to the order Manatee, the family Manatee, and the manatee genus, which has three subspecies. The tail of the manatee has evolved into a wide paddle-shaped tail fin due to the degeneration of the hind limbs, that is, rounded.
Dugong (tail triangle)
Manatee (rounded tail)
Information on dugongs
Dugong is a large aquatic mammal, because female dugongs occasionally have the habit of holding cubs on the surface of the water to breastfeed, and occasionally float to the surface with aquatic grass on their heads, which looks like human female hair from a distance, and their physical characteristics coincide with humans, so dugongs are often mistaken for "mermaids".
Adult dugongs are about 2.7 meters long on average and weigh about 300 kilograms. The body is spindle-shaped, the posterior side of the body is flattened, the head is smaller and slightly rounded, and the eyes and ears are relatively small. The skin is smoother with sparse short hairs. The back is grayish and the ventral surface is slightly shallow. Many elderly individuals have large areas of unpigmented areas of skin and many scars, with a slightly triangular tail.
Dugongs place high demands on sea temperature and water quality. Never go to the cold sea, sensitive to cold, water temperature is lower than 15 ° C, easy to infect pneumonia to die, poor water quality is also prone to skin ulcers, internal parasites and so on.
Feeding on plants that grow at the bottom of the seabed, including the roots, stems, leaves, and some algae of various marine plants, it often eats the whole plant. Instead of using their front teeth to bite off seaweed, they feed on their large, grippable kisses. Sometimes they leave a trail of nibbling, which can be seen when the seagrass forest emerges from the water at low tide.
Information on manatees
The manatee is an aquatic mammal. According to scientists, manatees evolved from land mammals tetrapods 60 million years ago, and are closely related to the proboscis elephant and the hoofed rabbit of the order Hoofed Rabbit.
The manatee is slightly shaped like a whale, with a body length of about 3 meters, a weight of about 500 kg, a large and rounded head, a head with tentacles, forelimbs like fins, degenerated hind limbs, a rounded tail, smooth and hairless all over the body, thick and rough skin, gray-black, and deep wrinkles.
Manatees mostly inhabit shallow seas, never going to the deep sea, let alone the shore, and whenever the manatees leave the water, they will continue to shed "tears". But they don't shed tears, but a liquid that contains salt to protect their eyes.
They cannot survive in cold waters, where the temperature must be above 16°C. In winter, when the temperature drops, or for other reasons, they move to a warm place.
Manatees are typical herbivores. It eats grass like a carpet, eating it one by one, known as the "lawn mower in the water".
The content comes from a website called "Animal Notes"