Rachel's Refuge

anatees have been around for a long time--something like hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years.  For many years sailors told stories about sea sirens or mermaids. They said these mermaids were half human with a fish's tail instead of legs and feet.  They said these mermaids sang songs that made the sailors crash into rocks.  Christopher Columbus saw manatees in 1493 when he found the New World.   In his journal he wrote:  "They are not as beautiful as they are painted.  To some extent they have a human appearance in the face." How could anyone think manatees are mermaids?  Maybe the sailors just had good imaginations?
 
 

Manatees are mammals. They are gentle and harmless and have no way to defend themselves against predators. They are hervibores and so they eat only plants and vegetation. They push plants into their mouth with their flippers and then they chew their food with their molars. Their molars are constantly being replaced.They live in fresh or salt water and they like shallow, warm water.They cannot survive if the water temperature in under 68 degrees for several days.

WHY ARE MANATEES ON THE "ENDANGERED LIST"?

The manatees' habitat is being destroyed.  Do you know what a "habitat" is?  It is the place where something lives.  Your home is your habitat. Try to imagine what it might feel like if you didn't have food, water, air or space to live in. This is what is happening to the manatees. People are filling up their habitats (lagoons, rivers) with dirt to make more land. Now the water is getting muddy and light cannot reach the plants. Without light the plants can't grow. If there are no plants then the manatees do not have any food. But there is even more danger--SPEED BOATS!  A lot of manatees get ugly cuts from the sharp propellers on speed boats.  Manatees cannot move very fast.  Many people slow down when they see CAUTION SIGNS but others don't.

We recently visited SEA WORLD in Orlando, Florida.  They have a lot of manatees there.  They are doing a lot of work to protect and save manatees.  There is a lot you can do to help.

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These books are great and will tell you everything you need to know about these adorable creatures.  The information you read on this web page comes from these books.

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Animated Manatee Title from The Wonderful World of the Manatee
Manatee Gifs from  http://www.greyhawkes.com/fun/manatees.html
Bubbles and Waves from