Manatee Trivia (Part 4)!

The subspecies of the West Indian Manatee includes the Florida Manatee and the Antillean Manatee.

Greetings!

OK – let’s continue manatee trivia with my fourth installment for you.

It’s worth repeating that we manatees are very large marine mammals with two flippers and a body tapering down to a paddle-shaped tail.

Here’s some more very cool manatee trivia from me in the form of another Q&A session…

  1. True or false: Manatees continually replace their teeth, which also happen to be entirely molars.

True! As the manatee’s front molars wear down from eating abrasive sand in the plants, their front molars fall out and they are replaced with the molars located in the back! This is known as “marching molars!”

  1. Manatees are almost totally blind due to their extremely small eyes.

False! Manatees have actually been known to respond to visual cues up to 115 feet away!

  1. The manatee has rather large ear bones giving it a good sense of hearing with a wide range of frequencies.

True! The manatee’s large ear bones help it with a good range of sound frequencies. However, its sound localization is poor.

  1. Manatees communicate with chirps, whistles, or squeaks.

True! The manatee’s communication always involves chirps, whistles, or squeaks. This is especially true with a mother manatee and her small calf.

  1. Manatees are generally found in deep water below 18 feet.

False! Manatees are found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals and coastal areas, especially where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish.

  1. Adult manatee lungs can exceed 3 feet long.

True! The adult manatee’s lungs can easily exceed 3 feet long. This length helps the manatee with buoyancy, much like a submarine going up and down under the water.

  1. How many titles are currently in the Kobee Manatee Children’s Educational Picture Book series?

The Kobee Manatee Children’s Educational Picture Book series currently has three titles in it. They are…

  • Kobee Manatee: Heading Home to Florida [Book 1]
  • Kobee Manatee: A Wild Weather Adventure [Book 2]
  • Kobee Manatee: Shipwreck Sea Friends [Book 3]

In Kobee Manatee’s [Book 3], Fabien Cousteau, oldest grandson of legendary ocean pioneer, Jacques Cousteau, collaborated with author Robert Scott Thayer. You can go to www.fabiencousteauolc.org to learn more.

Stay tuned for more of my manatee trivia!

If you are in Florida and you see a sick or injured manatee, please call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at: 1-888-404-FWCC. They are the folks who are responsible for rescuing us in Florida.

Here’s the Save the Manatee Club link to learn more about us manatees …

www.savethemanatee.org

Here’s a cool link for you to learn more about how we’re rescued and brought into rehabilitation …

www.wildtracks.org

~ Kobee Manatee

Related Posts

Manatee Trivia (Part 1)! March 29, 2017

Manatee Trivia (Part 2)! April 6, 2017

Manatee Trivia (Part 3)! April 21, 2017

Cool and Interesting Facts about Florida Manatees (Part 5), Extraordinary Manatee Trivia! December 4, 2015

Cool and Interesting Facts about Florida Manatees (Part 6), Extraordinary Manatee Trivia! December 11, 2015