endangered animals

My animal is the West Indian Manatee, and I hope you learn some interesting things about this animal from this report. There are several interesting facts about this animal’s habitat range and description. The West Indian Manatee is one of five types of manatees living throughout the world. Its scientific name is Trichechus Manatus. The West Indian Manatee has several nicknames but the most common is the “sea cow”. There are only about 1,500 West Indian Manatees left in the world. It lives in the southern United States, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America and the northern part of South America. It is light to dark gray in color and it grows from eight to fourteen feet long, weighing from 440 to 1300 pounds. Its average life is 50 years old. The West Indian Manatee is a mammal and while it lives in the water it must come to the surface to breath. It is an endangered species. The Manatee’s life is mostly made up of eating, sleeping, breeding and sometimes playing. Manatees are herbivores, which means they eat only plants. Their main diet is sea grass and water hyacinth. They eat up to 100 pounds of plant material in a day. They eat most of the summer to put on weight to help them survive the cold waters in the winter. They eat for 6 to 8 hours a day. They also sleep a lot. They can sleep up to 12 hours in a day. They must come up for air every twenty to twenty-five minutes. So, they must take a lot of naps. They greet each other by nibbling and kissing gently. They sometimes chase and bump each other when they play. Manatees can communicate by using high-pitched squeals. They signal fear, anger, playfulness, and contact each other when feeding and traveling. One calf is born every three to five years to a manatee mother. The calf is about the size of a full-grown goat when it is born. The male manatee gives no help in raising the calf. The calf stays with his mother for two years. The manatee is a slow animal that eats and sleeps a lot but has some time for enjoying others. There are some unusual facts about the manatee that most people don’t know. They can travel up to 500 miles each season. The manatee has been around for 60 million years, and that’s about the time the dinosaurs were on earth. They swim only 2 to 6 miles per hour but can swim up to 16 miles per hour if they are in danger. So, they swim no faster than a small sailboat. They replace their teeth throughout their life, as their old teeth wear down new teeth replace them. These are just a few of the unusual facts about the manatee. The manatee is endangered for several reasons and if it disappears it could have some bad consequences. The manatee was first put on the endangered species list on March 11, 1967. Among the reasons for its endangerment are boats that hit them while they are in the water. They are losing their habitat to development. Some people chase and tease them and this stresses them. They get entangled in fishing gear and trash that humans put into the water. Pollution kills the plants that they feed on and sometimes can even directly kill them. Even though there are laws against hunting some people still try to kill them. Finally, floodgates and locks can entrap them and drown them. If the manatee disappears it will worsen the problem of canals being taken over by the water hyacinth, this would mean boats could not get through canals. We would also loose an animal that is one of the gentleness creatures. I would like to help the manatee by adopting one through the “Adopt a Manatee Program”. You can adopt a manatee by sending for information to Save the Manatee Club, 500 North Maitland Ave., Maitland, Fla. 32751. By supporting the Manatee Club we can help in the study of the manatee, preserve its habitat, and enforce laws to protect it.	Dutch - Nederlandse vertaling volgt z.s.m.
Written by / geschreven door : Jamie
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