Meet manatees, the sea cows mistaken for mermaids 

Have you ever heard of an animal which is called a ‘sea cow’ but is actually related to elephants? They are also referred to as ocean teddy bears because they are so cuddly! Yes, we are referring to the gentlest giants of the ocean called manatees.  

In the middle of the 18th century, Georg Stellar, a naturalist and shipwrecked sailor (born;1709, died;1746), discovered the first manatees in the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. Manatees are giant, slow-moving, almost lumbering sea animals found along the tropical and subtropical Atlantic coasts, including the headwaters of the Amazon and Niger rivers. They typically weigh 1,200 pounds and grow up to 10 feet long. Despite their size, they do not harm human beings and are graceful creatures. They are herbivores and eat seagrass growing near the coastline, floating plants rooted in the water but growing above the waterline; etc. Manatees have adaptations for consuming aquatic plants. Their wide, prehensile lips are covered with sensory bristles and hair that help them distinguish between different types of food plants. Let’s dig up a few more unique features about these sea cows.  

Why are they called sea cows? 
You may wonder why manatees are referred to as sea cows. Starting with their diet, there are several reasons why they earned their nickname. When you consider their eating habits, both cows and manatees are herbivores. Both graze lazily, consuming a variety of grasses. Secondly, they move very slowly. So, now the moniker makes sense, doesn't it?  

Mistaken for mermaids 
Many of you have heard of sirens and mermaids, aquatic beings that are part human and half fish. Greek mythology describes sirens as human-like creatures that slaughtered sailors by luring them to the shore by singing tempting songs. Can you believe that the poor little manatees were mistaken for those wicked sirens many centuries ago? Yes, manatees used to be mistaken for mermaids and sirens back when most aquatic creatures were unexplored. Even Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer and navigator (1451-1506), during his first voyage to the Americas in 1493, observed a manatee for the first time in North America and claimed that he had spotted a mermaid. Manatees have many characteristics that resemble mermaids, like the capacity to move their heads, the finger-like bones in their forelimbs, and their flat tails. It is evident that, from a distance, sailors may have mistaken them for the legendary mermaids. 

Relatives of elephants 
While manatees have earned their nickname ‘sea cow,’ they are closely related to elephants! They are actually thought to have descended from terrestrial mammals in the evolutionary chain with a common ancestry. Each species of manatee belongs to the Sirenius family, which are also evolutionary ancestors of elephants! That’s why manatees are the closest relatives of elephants.  

Are manatees endangered? 
There are no natural predators that hunt manatees, and neither do they pose any danger to any other living species. Yet humans have significantly contributed to their extinction. Manatees have been attacked by humans because of the menace of fishing nets, boat collisions, and coastal development that harms their habitat. Humans are responsible for almost half of West Indian manatee deaths, and boat crashes account for most of these deaths. It is claimed that between 1935 and 1954, about 140,000 Amazonian manatees were murdered for their meat, fat, and skin, the latter of which was used to produce leather.