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Manatee
Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (''Trichechus inunguis''), the West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), and the West African manatee (''Trichechus senegalensis''). They measure up to long, weigh as much as , and have paddle-like tails. Manatees are Herbivory, herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Amazon basin, and West Africa. The main causes of death for manatees are human-related issues, such as habitat destruction and human objects. Their slow-moving, curious nature has led to violent collisions with propeller-driven boats and ships. Some manatees h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Indian Manatee
The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the Eastern United States to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on underwater plants and uses its whiskers to navigate. It is divided into two subspecies, the Florida manatee (''T. m. latirostris'') in the United States and the Antillean manatee (''T. m. manatus'') in the Caribbean, both of which are endangered and face pressure from habitat loss, pollution, and other human activity. The West Indian manatee is the largest living member of the sirenians (order Sirenia), a group of large aquatic mammals that includes the dugong, other manatees, and the extinct Steller's sea cow. Manatees are herbivores, have developed vocal communication abilities, and are covered in highly sensitive whiskers (called vibrissae) that are used for feeding and navigation. In breeding season, several males form mating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sirenia
The Sirenia (), commonly referred to as sea cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae (the dugong and the now extinct Steller's sea cow) and Trichechidae (manatees, namely the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee) with a total of four species. The Protosirenidae (Eocene sirenians) and Prorastomidae (terrestrial sirenians) families are extinct. Sirenians are classified in the clade Paenungulata, alongside the elephants and the hyraxes, and evolved in the Eocene 50 million years ago (mya). The Dugongidae diverged from the Trichechidae in the late Eocene or early Oligocene (30–35 mya). Sirenians grow to between in length and in weight. The recently extinct Steller's sea cow was the largest known sirenian to have lived, reaching lengths of and weights of . Sirenians have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Manatee
The African manatee (''Trichechus senegalensis''), also known as the West African manatee, is a species of manatee that inhabits much of Western Africa – from Senegal to Angola. It is the only manatee species to be found in the Old World. Taxonomy The African manatee was officially declared a species under the ''Trichechus senegalensis'' taxon in 1795 by naturalist Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link. No subspecies of this taxon are known. Although African manatees live in both coastal areas and isolated inland areas, genetic evidence suggests no significant differences between the two populations. The African manatee falls under the genus ''Trichechus'' with only two other species, the Amazonian manatee and the West Indian manatee, which are also sirenians. Range and habitat African manatees inhabit the widest ranges of habitats of any sirenian species, ranging from offshore islands in the Atlantic to rivers in the western Sahel, equatorial rainforest rivers, and so on. It has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazonian Manatee
The Amazonian manatee (''Trichechus inunguis'') is a species of manatee that lives in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. It has thin, wrinkled brownish or gray colored skin, with fine hairs scattered over its body and a white chest patch. It is the smallest of the three extant species of manatee. Taxonomy The specific name, ''inunguis'' is Latin for "nailless". The genus name ''Trichechus'', comes from Latin meaning "hair", referencing the whiskers around the manatee's mouth. Physical characteristics The Amazonian manatee is the smallest member of the manatee family and can be distinguished by its smoother rubbery skin and lack of vestigial nails on its flippers. Ranges of body weight and size observed are and for captive males, and for captive females, and and for free-ranging manatees, respectively. The maximum actual Amazonian manatee weight reported is . Calves of the species are born weighing and long. The Amazonian Manatees increase in length a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Mammal
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine environments for feeding and survival. Marine mammal adaptation to an aquatic lifestyle varies considerably between species. Both cetaceans and sirenians are fully aquatic and therefore are obligate water dwellers. Pinnipeds are semiaquatic; they spend the majority of their time in the water but need to return to land for important activities such as mating, breeding in the wild, breeding and molting. Sea otters tend to live in kelp forests and estuaries. In contrast, the polar bear is mostly terrestrial and only go into the water on occasions of necessity, and are thus much less adapted to aquatic living. The diets of marine mammals vary considerably as well; some eat zooplankton, others eat fish, squid, shellfish, or seagrass, and a few eat ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwarf Manatee
The dwarf manatee (''Trichechus pygmaeus'', or mistakenly ''Trichechus bernhardi'') is a disputed species of manatee allegedly found in the freshwater habitats of the Amazon, though restricted to one tributary of the Aripuanã River. According to Marc van Roosmalen, the scientist who proposed it as a new species, it lives in shallow, fast-running water, and feeds on different species of aquatic plants from the Amazonian manatee, which prefers deeper, slower-moving waters and the plants found there. The dwarf manatee reportedly migrates upriver during the rainy season when the river floods to the headwaters and shallow ponds. Based on its small range, the dwarf manatee is suggested to be considered critically endangered if indeed a separate species, but is not recognized by the IUCN.International Union for Conservation of Nature (2008). IUCN Red List'' Accessed November 09, 2009. The dwarf manatee is described as typically being about long and weighing about , which would make i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trichechus Hesperamazonicus
''Trichechus hesperamazonicus'', the western Amazonian manatee, is an extinct species of manatee that lived about 40 thousand years ago in the Madeira River, in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. It is known from this single locality, with possible occurrences in the Brazilian state of Acre. Description ''Trichechus hesperamazonicus'' is known by two fragmentary mandibles and part of the palate. Compared with other manatees, it has a wide space between the posterior lower tooth row and ascending ramus of dentary, where the buccinator muscle is located, and a wide ascending ramus of the mandible, which covers the posterior end of the tooth row. It also shares some characteristics with living species, as relatively few large teeth and few mental foramina as '' T. manatus'' and '' T. senegalensis'' (in contrast with the many smaller teeth and many mental foramina of '' T. inunguis'') and a straight and shallow mandibular symphysis as '' T. inunguis'' and '' T. senegalensis'' (in con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
10th Edition Of Systema Naturae
The 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' (Latin; the English title is ''A General System of Nature'') is a book written by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In it, Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature for animals, something he had already done for plants in his 1753 publication of ''Species Plantarum''. Starting point Before 1758, most biological catalogues had used polynomial names for the taxa included, including earlier editions of ''Systema Naturae''. The first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature across the animal kingdom was the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature therefore chose 1 January 1758 as the "starting point" for zoological nomenclature and asserted that the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' was to be treated as if published on that date. Names published before that date are unavailable, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba to Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles to the east from the Virgin Islands to Trinidad and Tobago, South America to the south from the Venezuela, Venezuelan coastline to the Colombia, Colombian coastline, and Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula to the west from Panama to Mexico. The Geopolitics, geopolitical region around the Caribbean Sea, including the numerous islands of the West Indies and adjacent coastal areas in the mainland of the Americas, is known as the Caribbean. The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest seas on Earth and has an area of about . The sea's deepest point is the Cayman Trough, between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at below sea level. The Caribbean coastline has many gulfs and bays: the Gulf of Gonâve, the Gul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trichechidae
Trichechidae is a family of sirenians that includes all living manatees and several extinct genera. Systematics Trichechidae *MiosireninaeM. Voss. 2014. On the invalidity of Halitherium schinzii Kaup, 1838 (Mammalia, Sirenia), with comments on systematic consequences. Zoosystematics and Evolution 90(1):87-93 **'' Anomotherium'' ***''Anomotherium langewieschei'' **'' Miosiren'' ***''Miosiren canhami'' ***''Miosiren kocki'' *Trichechinae **'' Trichechus'' ***''Trichechus inunguis'' - Amazonian Manatee ***''Trichechus manatus'' - West Indian Manatee ***''Trichechus senegalensis'' - African Manatee The African manatee (''Trichechus senegalensis''), also known as the West African manatee, is a species of manatee that inhabits much of Western Africa – from Senegal to Angola. It is the only manatee species to be found in the Old World. Ta ... ***'' Trichechus hesperamazonicus'' **'' Potamosiren'' ***''Potamosiren magdalensis'' **'' Ribodon'' ***''Ribodon limbatus'' References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
