Oh, the Huge Manatees! Trivia Quiz

Answer: The sirens of Greek mythology

The order Sirenia includes only manatees and dugongs. There was a third species--Steller's sea cow, but they were wiped out in the mid to late 1700s. Due to their long tail sections, manatees and dugongs had the general appearance of the mythological Greek sirens who lured sailors to their death in shallow, rocky water.

Answer: Djibouti

West African manatees inhabit the waters of West Africa from Senegal to Angola. West Indian manatees live in the Western Hemisphere. One type, the Antillean, can be found in the Caribbean, Mexico and northeastern South America. Another type, the Florida manatee, lives around Florida but can be found as far west as Louisiana and, in the summer, as far north as the Carolinas.

The Amazonian manatee lives in Brazil.

Answer: False

The Amazonian manatee lives in the freshwater Amazon Basin. While the other species of manatee can usually be found in sea water, they can abide freshwater and brackish water. The water does need to be shallow, though. Shallow water allows access to the sea grass beds, weeds, surface and overhead vegetation that manatees eat.

Answer: Sea cow

Manatees, as well as dugongs, can certainly be likened to cows. They are herbivorous. They are slow-moving (manatees swim about 5 mph). They are very docile. In fact people can actually swim up to a manatee unmolested. Do not ride on them, though.

In Florida and other places molesting, harassing or disturbing manatees is illegal. One woman who was photographed in 2012 riding a manatee was arrested and faced a $500 fine and six months in jail.

Answer: Mammals

Manatees are aquatic mammals. They spend their whole lives in the water. Like whales and dolphins, they must surface to breath. Unlike whales and dolphins, West Indian and West African manatee flippers have remnants of toenails. In fact, manatees are more closely related to elephants than they are to whales, seals or dolphins.

Answer: Warm

Unlike whales, manatees do not have a thick layer of blubber. Therefore they need warm water. The water needs to be 68 F or higher. For that reason, Florida manatees migrate to Florida in the wintertime, spending the summer further north up the Atlantic Coast of the US.

They are especially fond of estuaries and bays where there is a power plant discharging warm waste water. West African and Amazonian manatees migrate to lakes or deeper parts of the river during dry seasons. A cold winter is one of the threats manatees face.

Answer: Prehensile lips

Special muscles in their lips allow manatees to grasp and pull vegetation off overhanging limbs and off the riverbed or seabed. The lips also push the food into the manatee's mouth. Their teeth are interesting in that new teeth form in the back then migrate to the front as front teeth fall out. These teeth are called "marching molars".

Answer: They face risk of extinction over the medium term

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the premier body for classifying species as threatened. Other governmental agencies may also maintain their own lists for indigent species. For example, Florida lists the Florida manatee as an endangered species.

In assigning a Red List classification of extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or near threatened, the IUCN looks at historical population decline, causes of that decline, whether those causes are still extant, whether or not they can be removed, and the projected percentage decline in the population over the next three generations.

The West Indian manatee is vulnerable because the population is less than 10,000 and is expected to decline by at least 1,000 over the next sixty years.

The West African manatee population is also less than 10,000 and the IUCN estimates a 30% reduction over the next ninety years. Population decline of the Amazonian manatee is estimated at 30% over the next sixty years.

Answer: Red tide

Red tide is caused by a high concentration of a small toxic algae in the Gulf of Mexico. The algae bloom occurs often and has little impact. It also usually occurs many miles from the coastal waters inhabited by manatees. If the bloom moves to estuaries and bays, is especially large and lasts a long time it can be fatal to these animals. The algae feed on sea grass, infecting it with toxins which the manatees then consume. In March, 2013, over 170 Florida manatees died from red tide.

Manatees have few predators--mainly alligators, crocodiles and sharks. Cold water is harmful to them. Water pollution is a threat to their survival. The animals sometimes get caught in crab traps, flood control gates and navigation locks. Man is a big threat. Manatees are hard to see when they float. Only the top of their head and a small portion of their back can be seen above the water. Speeding powerboats can injure or kill a manatee which is too slow and cumbersome to get out of the way. Hunting manatees is illegal except in South America (Steller's sea cow was made extinct by hunting) but poaching does occur. Finally, habitat loss, especially along the Amazon and the Florida coasts, poses a threat to the manatee population.

Answer: 8-13 feet

A full-grown manatee is generally between eight and thirteen feet long and weighs up to about 1,300 pounds. The Amazonian manatee is a little smaller, topping out at about nine feet long. Much heavier manatees are on record. Sea World in Florida rehabilitates injured manatees and in 2009 they released a 3,000-pound female back into the wild.

The manatee, named Rita, had been injured way back in 1982 when her flipper got caught in a crab trap.