Celebrate Manatee Awareness Month

Here are some tips from Owlkids intern Taylor on how you can celebrate this special day!

-Melissa

It’s Manatee Awareness Month!

Hi readers,

Today is the first day of Manatee Awareness Month, so I’m here to share some interesting facts about these gentle sea animals.

• Manatees are sometimes nicknamed “sea cows”. Like cows, they are large and spend most of their days grazing on plants. However, some manatees are actually as heavy as two cows put together!
• The closest living relative of the manatee isn’t another sea creature – it’s elephants! Manatees and elephants both evolved from a common relative 50 million years ago.
• Unlike humans who grow baby teeth that are replaced by adult teeth, manatees are constantly losing old teeth and growing new ones throughout their lifetime.
• Throughout history, sailors and explorers have mistaken manatees for mermaids when at sea!
• Manatees never leave the water, but they breathe oxygen. This means that every 3-15 minutes manatees have to swim to the surface and stick their noses out to breathe air.

Manatees are an at-risk species, so it’s important to have a month of awareness for them. I hope you learned something new about them today!

-Taylor, chickadeeblog@owlkids.com