Manatees Essay Research Paper OutlineThesis Manatee does

Manatees Essay, Research Paper

Outline

Thesis: Manatee does not have any natural predators in their environment, but humans

are the unnatural predator that causes manatees to be endangered. Declining population

is alarming and we need to do something to stop the decline.

I. Introduction: My experience with a manatee at Sea World

II. Columbus’s discovery

A. Thought manatees were mermaids

III. History of the manatees

A. Facts about manatees

B. Declining population

IV. What is happening to the manatees.

A. Causes of deaths among manatees

V. What has been done and what we can do to protect the manatees

VI. Manatees are our guinea pigs

Columbus’s Beauties

It was my first encounter with the mysterious West Indian manatee at Sea World

in San Diego. When I got the manatee’s attention by lightly tapping on the glass, he, like

a bloated blimp, floated over to the glass to make eye contact. Thick glass separated me

from this creature that I was seeing for the first time, but the gentle stare that penetrated

the glass from the other side made the glass almost inexistent. His pink eyes were tiny

compared to size of his colossal body, but they revealed a sense of gentleness about the

creature. His approach was gradual, but he seemed sweet and genuine. He looked like a

huge seal with a flat face and a body that reminded me of a punching bag, both tough.

When the manatee was glass distance away from me, the surface of the skin became

visible, and I felt like I was looking at an elephant that had no ears and was able to swim.

The resemblance in the skin was incredible, both animals having rough, leathery gray

skin. The mimicry was a definite work of evolution. The bonding with my new friend

did not last long, three minutes at the most, because I was not as important to him as his

lunch. A chunk of sea weed was dropped into the tank from above, and the manatee did

not hesitate to jolt toward it. He seemed to view the food as a lonesome traveler would

view a water source in the middle of the dessert, sacred. After finishing lunch, the

graceful manatee proceeded to pick a spot in the corner of the tank and lazily continued

his afternoon.

A manatee is not a well known animal, in fact, many of us probably never heard

of such a creature. The first encounter with the manatee is believed to have occurred

between the manatee and Christopher Columbus. When traveling in 1493, Columbus

sited in the New World waters three creatures that he believed were mermaids. But in

fact, “they were not the wondrous bare-breasted, fish tailed temptations of every ancient

mariner’s dream. They were manatees.”(Fichtner). Columbus made an entry in his

journal regarding his encounter with the ‘mermaids’ that stated “They were not as

beautiful as they are painted, since in some ways they have a face like a man.”(Fichtner).

It’s difficult for me to comprehend how a 1200 pound creature could be mistaken for a

mystical mermaid, and presumably a person today would not come to that conclusion

after making the same observations as Columbus did, but it’s very likely that we would

not know what creature was in front of us.

It is believed that Protosiren, which is an ancestor of the manatee, emerged about

50 million years ago, and today the product of Protosirens, the manatee still exist

(Fichetner). Manatees are not fish, but marine animals (U.S.). A West Indian manatee

looks like a very large walrus with a body that is full in the middle and narrows to a

paddle shaped tail. It’s about ten feet long on average, and approximately 1200 lbs., but

can grow up to 3500 pounds. Unlike many other animals, female manatees are generally

larger than males (Sea World). These massive animals have agile forelimbs that have

three to four toe nails on each, which they use to swim in the shallow water that they

reside in. Manatees have very sensitive skin that reacts to touch by changing the its shape

or by contracting. The peculiar lips of the manatees aid in movement as well as food

consumption (Bragg). Manatees reach their breeding maturity between three and ten

years of age and have an approximate gestation period of thirteen months. According to

Donna Carey, a manatee researcher, West Indian manatees spend most of their days

feeding along the water bottoms. She remarks “These herbavoric creatures, meaning that

they eat plants, usually eat ten percent of their body weight daily.”(Carey). An educator

at Sea World consents with Donna’s information about the feeding habits of manatees

and also provides me with the actual menu for manatees residing at Sea World in San

Diego. “The West Indian manatees here at Sea World dine on a couple of baskets of

monkey chow, eight cases of lettuce, five trays of hydroponically grown grasses,

bananas, apples, cabbages and vitamins.”(Chris). How appetizing! These puzzling

creatures sp

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