Taxonomy

Manatees comprise three of the four living species in the order Sirenia. The 4th is the Eastern Hemisphere’s dugong. The Sirenia are thought to have evolved from four-legged land mammals over 60 million years ago, with the closest living relatives being the Proboscidea (elephants) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes).[2]

The Amazonian’s hair color is brownish gray and they have thick, wrinkled skin, often with coarse hair, or “whiskers.” The West African Manatee is the least studied of the three. Photos are rare; although very little is known about this species, scientists[who?] think they are similar to West Indian Manatees. The name in Songhay, the local language, is “ayyu”.

Description

Manatees have a mean mbum of 400 to 550 kilograms (880 to 1,200 lb), and mean length of 2.8 to 3 metres (9.2 to 9.8 ft), with maximums of 3.6 metres (12 ft) and 1,775 kilograms (3,910 lb) seen (the females tend to be larger and heavier). When born, baby manatees have an average mbum of 30 kilograms (66 lb). They have a large flexible prehensile upper lip that acts in many ways like a shortened trunk, somewhat similar to an elephant’s. They use the lip to gather food and eat, as well as using it for social interactions and communications. Manatees have shorter snouts than their fellow sirenians the dugongs. Their small, widely-spaced eyes have eyelids that close in a circular manner. Manatees are believed[who?]to see in color. The adults have no incisor or canine teeth, just a set of cheek teeth, which are not clearly differentiated into molars and premolars. Uniquely among mammals, these teeth are continuously replaced throughout life, with new teeth growing at the rear as older teeth fall out from farther forward in the mouth. At any given time, a manatee typically has no more than six teeth.[3] Its tail is paddle-shaped, and is the clearest visible difference between manatees and dugongs; a dugong tail is fluked, similar in shape to a that of a whale.[4]

Like horses, they have a simple stomach, but a large cegreat times, in which they can digest tough plant matter. In general, their intestines are unusually long for animals of their size[citation needed].

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