Majestic and beautiful, manatees are some of the most amazing creatures belonging to the sea of creatures living deep within the warm bodies of water surrounding the globe. Also known as, sea cows measuring up to 13 feet long and weight nearly over 1,000 pounds with flipper like paddle fins and tails with a brownish gray body consisting of wrinkled skin and coarse hairy spots known as whiskers are sadly on the endangered list.
The gentle freshwater herbivores were hunted for their beautiful hides to make war shields, canoes and shoes by the Native Americans in past times, but are now being hunted more often particularly for their meat, bones and hide even though hunting has been banned since 1893.
Thankfully, these intelligent mammals are being seen in record numbers off the coast of Florida. In fact, there were over 6,000 this year, which is a good sign for them coming off the endangered species list. However, in other areas of the world where their habitat is such as the Caribbean Sea, the Amazon Basin and West African numbers are still low.
The reasons for the numbers being so low is possibly due to climate change and the bodies of water they are use to living in being colder than usual. Unfortunately, manatees cannot survive in water that is below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Another possible reason for the creatures being seen in minimum amounts could be due to the horrible Red Tide seasons that have been occurring within bodies of water. It is also possible that the seawater swimmers are still being hunted in large numbers in particular locations where protective laws are not in place for the endangered species. Other reason for the loss of manatee life is their habitat constantly being destroyed, large ships are hitting them carelessly and more diseases are plaguing the areas the live in.
With help from human beings, and more protective services put into action, the slow reproducing mammals that are only capable of having one calf every two years, can live freely and abundantly within their warm waters again, and most importantly be remove from the endangered species list. After all, each being upon this planet has a purpose and a place. Without all the beings within the ecosystem, it suffers which means some day we as humans will to if we are not more careful about how we treat the other living beings surrounding us on this planet called home.
