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Endangered Manatees Face Risks

Tiny eyes peer out. Big, bristly lips flex. A blubbery body moves like a blimp through the water. It’s hard to imagine that manatees were once mistaken for mermaids. Yet it’s true—sailors of long ago believed manatees to be the bewitching half-women, half-fish of mythology. But manatees are not mythical. They are real, and they are in trouble. In the United States, West Indian manatees are endangered.

As mammals, manatees must surface to breathe air. As vegetarians, they spend up to eight hours a day pulling plants toward their mouths with their flippers and flexible lips. A large manatee eats up to 200 pounds (91 kilograms) of sea grass and water hyacinths in a single day.


   Manatee Encounter!
EYE TO EYE with an endangered manatee, this swimmer does the right thing: she watches the animal quietly—without touching it.

Manatees
HEADS UP!
Two manatees stretch for the surface—and a breath of fresh air.

But the warm, shallow lagoons and coastal waters where manatees feed also hold great danger. These places are human playgrounds, where people drive powerboats and Jet Skis. Boats speed by so fast that slow-moving manatees—which often swim near the surface—can’t get away in time.

“Collisions with watercraft and cuts from boat propellers are responsible for more manatee deaths than any other known cause,” says Nancy Sadusky of the Save the Manatee Club in Maitland, Florida.

Manatees have other headaches too. People’s trash chokes the animals or blocks their intestines. Cold weather can kill manatees if it makes water temperatures too low. Deadly red tides—“pileups” of toxic algae—can poison manatees. The disappointing truth? This fragile species could soon die off completely.

Fortunately scientists, wildlife officials, and others are trying to help. They are establishing manatee refuges and encouraging people on the water to act in ways that are manatee friendly. Perhaps, working together, we can save the manatee.

Do YOU think endangered manatees can be saved? Read what other Kids think.

And check out the Center for Marine Conservation’s Kids Only Manatees & Dugongs Web pages and the Save the Manatee Club site.

Text by Fiona Sunquist
Top photograph by Doc White/Jeff Foott Productions
Bottom photograph by Brandon D. Cole

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