Public Library Of Youngstown & Mahoning County: Manatee Awareness Month

Press release from the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County:

Kelly

November 18th, 2021

November is Manatee Awareness Month!  Developed in 1979 to honor and celebrate these special animals, with their cute squished faces, plump bodies, silly flippers and paddle tail, Manatee Awareness Month reminds us how much we love these wonderful creatures.

Tragically, there has been an unusually high rate of manatee mortality in 2021.  A federal investigation is looking into the reasons behind this spike.  It is thought that poor water quality is killing off seagrass, the manatees’ main source of food.  They are also vulnerable to boat strikes, entanglements, illnesses and habitat destruction.  And the loss of natural warm water in their winter habitat is a critical long-term threat.  (Read more about issues facing manatees this year here.)

And so, manatee awareness is important now more than ever.  Manatees are currently “threatened,” but could very quickly become “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  It’s important to educate ourselves on their value, spread awareness, and do our part to protect them (by giving them time and space to live naturally).  We wouldn’t want to lose them!

Learn all about these fascinating animals

There are three species of manatees: Amazonian Manatee, African Manatee, and the West Indian or American Manatee, which inhabit Florida, the Caribbean and South America.  They are also known familiarly known as “sea cows” (they certainly do resemble cows!), but manatees are more closely related to the elephant than the cow.  You may also have heard them called “dugongs”?  Although closely related to the manatee, dugongs are a separate species who live in the Indo-Pacific.

Manatees are herbivores, so their diet mainly consists of underwater plants (particularly seagrass) and plants that hang low over shallow waters.  In captivity, they enjoy romaine lettuce.  They eat a lot: for hours a day, up to 130 pounds of food!  They use their flippers (complete with toenails) to hold and guide their food to their whiskery snout.  They have “prehensile” lips that are sensitive and flexible, and can grasp vegetation (somewhat like an elephant’s trunk).  Like all aquatic mammals, they need air so must surface frequently; a manatee breathes through its nose, which has flaps that tightly close over its nostrils when it dives.

A group of manatees is called an “aggregation.”  They are somewhat social creatures; they tend to travel alone but easily form small, transitory groups, especially as they gather together in warm waters.  A mother cow and calf will stay together for two years.  Manatees communicate through touch, sight, taste and sound (using squeaks, squeals and chirps).  They are gentle and playful with one another, swimming upside-down and doing somersaults in the water, (or other silly antics like a face smoosh!).

As winter approaches, manatees begin migrating to warmer waters along the Florida coast.  Although manatees may look pudgy, they don’t have a very thick layer of blubber to keep them warm; they prefer water temperatures over 68 degrees (anything below is chilly and stressful on their body).  They tend to gather in warm places like natural springs and power plant discharge waters.  When the summer returns, they will spread out and travel to feeding sites, particularly rivers and coastal bays and shallow areas, along the southern East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

Manatees by the numbers

How can you help the Manatees?

Manatees have no natural enemies, but sadly, they are vulnerable to a number of threats (most of them human-related).  These threats include: loss of warm-water refuges, collisions with water craft, being crushed or drowned in canals locks or floodgates, ingestion of fishhooks and line, and cold weather.  What can we do to mitigate threats to these animals and their environment?

For additional information about Manatees

Check out these websites to learn more about manatees:

Watch adorable videos of manatees and the manatee documentary, Before It’s Too Late.

Read more about manatees by checking out items from the library catalog.

Kelly

Kelly is a librarian at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. As the Adult Programming Specialist, her focus is bringing adults the library programs they love.  (Kids can’t have ALL the fun!).  She reads strictly nonfiction and picture books.  She believes that anything you could ever need or want is located somewhere in the library.  Including friends.

This press release was produced by the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County. The views expressed here are the author’s own.