Wanted Alive
West Indian Manatee
What is unique and where can you find West Indian Manatee?
- Description: West Indian manatees are large, gray mammals with bodies that shrink to a flat tail. They have two arms, called flippers, with three to four nails on each flipper. Their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the nose. The manatee's closest relatives are the elephant and one other animal but it is also rare. Manatees are believed to have evolved from a wading, plant-eating animal. The West Indian manatee is related to the West African manatee, the Amazonian manatee, the dugong, and Steller's sea cow, which was hunted to extinction in 1768. The average adult manatee is about 10 feet long and weighs between 800 and 1,200 pounds.
- Habitat and Range: Manatees can be found in shallow rivers, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas particularly where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish. Manatees are a migratory species. Within the United States, they are concentrated in Florida in the winter. In summer months, they can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts, but summer sightings in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are more common. West Indian manatees can also be found in the coastal and inland waterways of Central America and along the northern coast of South America, although distribution in these areas may be discontinuous.
How is the West Indian Manatee labeled?
- The West Indian Manatee is very rare and also it is endangered, there are not many left and organizations are doing everything they can to protect them.
What is being done to protect the West Indian Manatee?
- Well, they have many endagered species organizations, they all work together to try and get the Manatee's to produce more so they wont be endangered, The federal law protects them so they can not be killed, so the federal law and a lot of Endangered Species clubs are working together to recover them.
What happens if West Indian Manatee's go extinct?
- A lot, organizations would be lost because they failed to protect them, it would probably bring hope down for other organizations, not only that but that is one less rare animal we have in this world.
Watch the video below to see what West Indian Manatee's look like in movement.
West Indian Manatees - Florida - YouTube HD