This manatee is relaxing near the surface.
Click on image for full size
Windows Original, adapted from Corel Photography
Manatees
Manatees and the Dugong (sea cows) are the only herbivorous mammals that live in the ocean. Manatees move between seawater and freshwater. For this reason, many manatees are found just floating (hanging out) near the coast. Unfortunately, many manatees have died because boats travel in these waters too. The boat's propellers which hang below the boat can hit the manatee, killing it.
Manatees are really docile, slow moving animals. They don't do the fast swimming and jumping that dolphins do. When they do move, they use their beaver-like tail to paddle through the water.
Manatees must come to the surface to breathe through their nostrils. They then dive with their lungs full of air and can stay submerged for over 20 minutes.
Manatees eat a variety of aquatic plants. Again, manatees will be at the surface when eating, because many plants float in the top layer of the ocean.
You might also be interested in:
Jupiter's atmospheric environment is one of strong gravity, high pressure, strong winds, from 225 miles per hour to 1000 miles per hour, and cold temperatures of -270 degrees to +32 degrees (freezing temperature).
...more
In July, 1996, it was announced that Dr. David McKay, along with a team of scientists at Johnson Space Center (a division of NASA), had discovered possible fossils of bacteria in an ancient rock from Mars.
...more
Saturn's atmospheric environment is one of strong gravity, high pressure, strong winds, from 225 miles per hour to 1000 miles per hour, and cold temperatures of -270 degrees to +80 degrees. With winds
...more
Titan's atmosphere is a lot like the Earth's, except that it is very cold, from -330 degrees to -290 degrees! Like the Earth, there is a lot of Nitrogen and other complex molecules. There also may be an
...more
Autotrophs are organisms that produce organic compounds from an inorganic source of carbon (carbon dioxide) given a source of energy. If the source of energy is the reactions of inorganic chemical compounds,
...more
In the warm primordial ocean, aggregates of amino acids, proteins, and other hydrocarbons coalesced into a form called *coacervates*. Organic polymers such as amino acids will spontaneously form coacervates
...more Organisms that are able to make their own food (in the form of sugars) by using the energy of the Sun are called autotrophs, meaning "self-feeders". Photosynthesis is the name of the process through which
...more
