Essay On Florida Manatee

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The Plight of the Florida Manatee’s Ecology The Florida Manatee’s popular marine species in the tropical environment of Florida are currently considered an “endangered species”. The ecology (the relationships between living organisms and their interactions with their natural or developed environment), for the manatee (trichechus manatus), requires and is generally restricted to the inland and coastal waters of peninsular Florida during the winter, when they shelter in and/or near warm-water springs, heated industrial effluents, and other warm water sites (as stated in Research Gate (1997) Hartman 1979, Lefebvre et al). The Florida (West Indian) Manatee, An Endangered Species, has no known predators other than humans; in the past, humans hunted …show more content…

Their habitats, in the warm Florida waters have provided wintering refuges for manatees in natural warm water springs Kasnoff, C. 2016). They also are attracted to the warm water outflow from power plants, where occasionally a manatee has gotten stuck and rescue efforts have been made. Residential and commercial development along rivers and waterways has also affected the manatee population. Habitat destruction has damaged the estuarine seagrass communities on which manatees depend (Kasnoff, C. 2016 and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 1999-2016). The manatee is a large, bulky aquatic mammal with flippered forelimbs and a spatula-shaped tail. Manatees can grow to 12 feet in length and weigh up to 3500 pounds. They may live to be 50 years old. It might be very difficult to imagine, but manatees (also known as 'sea cows') share a common ancestor with elephants, but did not evolve from the elephant, the elephant is considered the manatee's closest living relative. The manatee's vaguely human-like face is sometimes described as one only a mother could love. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how sailors ever mistook a manatee for a beautiful

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