March 29, 2023 – Manatees

Happy Manatee Appreciation Day! These majestic creatures, also known as sea cows, can measure up to 13 feet long and weigh as much as 1,300 pounds! Manatees are the ocean’s largest herbivores, eating more than 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. They eat 10 to 15% of their body weight each day, which requires manatees to graze for up to 7 hours a day! Around half of their day is spent sleeping submerged, though they do surface for air regularly at intervals of less than 20 minutes. They’re slow-moving, generally swimming at around 3-5 miles per hour, but they have been known to swim up to 20 mph in short bursts. Though manatees have the smallest brain of all mammals in relation to their body mass, they are capable of understanding discrimination tasks and they show signs of complex associative learning. They also apparently have good long-term memory. Learn more here.