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Trichechidae:
Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large aquatic mammals sometimes known as sea cows. The name comes from the Spanish manatí, which itself comes from a Carib word meaning "breast”. The Trichechidae differ from the Dugongidae in the shape of the skull and the shape of the tail. Dugongs have a forked tail, similar in shape to a whale's, while manatees' tails are paddle-shaped. They are herbivores, spending most of their time grazing in shallow waters, and can have a mass anywhere from 500 to 1000 kg. When born baby manatees have an average mass of 30 kg. Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (T. manatus, West Indian manatee), the Amazon basin (T. inunguis, Amazonian manatee), and West Africa (T. senegalensis, African manatee). They spend half of their day sleeping in the water, surfacing for air regularly, and at intervals of not longer than 20 minutes. |
