Talk:Manatee

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Just wanted to say that this looks great!

Thanx! Several of us worked hard on creating the table. --maveric149

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[edit] True or false??

True or false: manatees are extinct. 66.32.114.213 02:42, 23 May 2004 (UTC)

false

[edit] Translation of the week

Hi, as part of the Translation of the week series, I'm translating this article into Southern Min. It would be nice to know more about its physical features. Currently there's description of the tail (vis-a-vis dugong) and we know it can "reach 4.5 meters (15 feet) or more in length" (this latter part seems to refer to the Florida sub-species). A-giau 06:46, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)


New to Wikipedia (and responding late to a much earlier piece!) but thought that this one was fascinating. There are extremely rare reports of dugong on the very southern coast of China. I hope that your Southern Min translation efforts will include the dugong. (During a recent trip to China I saw a Chinese alligator that was killed by locals - local teachers maintained that it was an exotic from the US, despite my best attempts to assure them that there were alligators in China. I would hate for the same fate to befall a dugong wandering in Chinese waters.)

[edit] Who is who

"The Florida Manatee is by some considered a distinct species, but ITIS treats it as a subspecies of T. manatus, and this is now usual. It can reach 4.5 meters (15 feet) or more in length, and lives both in fresh and salt water. It was once hunted for its oil and flesh but is now legally protected." Is this all Florida Manatee, or did we return to the Manatee in general somewhere? Aliter 00:38, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, the Amazon manatee only lives in fresh water, so presumably it must the Florida manatee.

--Anothercopywriter 20:59, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The West Indian manatee, Trichechus manatus, is a species distinct from the Amazonian manatee, T. inunguis, and the West African manatee, T. senegalensis. To the best of my knowledge, no scientist considers the Florida manatee to be a distinct species. Domning and Hayek (1986 Marine Mammal Science 2(2):87-144) and Hatt (1934 Natural History 66:533-566) agree that the West Indian manatee can be divided into 2 subspecies: (1) the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and (2) the Antillean or Caribbean manatee (T. m. manatus). However, recent genetic (mtDNA) research suggests that the West Indian manatee actually falls out into 3 groups, which are more or less geographically distributed as: (1) Florida and the Greater Antilles; (2) Central and Northern South America; and (3) Northeastern South America (Garcia-Rodriguez 1998 Molecular Ecology 7:1137-1149; Vianna et al. in press Molecular Ecology). Whether these 3 groups should be classified as 3 subspecies is currently debated among sirenian specialists. This recent research also discovered West Indian-Amazonian manatee hybrids near the mouth of the Amazonian River!

I believe that the largest Florida manatee on record was a 13' female weighing in at just over 3500 lbs. However this enormous size is rare. A more typical Florida manatee weighs 1000-1200 lbs and is about 10' long. In Belize, adults range from 8' to 10' and weight 800-1000 lbs. This may be more typical of the Caribbean (Antillean) subspecies. I'm not sure where the upto 15' came from. Caribbean manatees are still hunted (illegally) for their meat in the Wider Caribbean Region. http://www.sirenian.org Mermaid101 07:25, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hey!

I love the site. I am doing a school project and I ran accross this, and I definitely will come back!

Were manatees once called "mermaids"? 65.8.115.110 22:05, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

                      -Northwoods122009       -Northwoods122009

Apparently there was some intial confusion amongst early seafarers regarding manatees. Columbus, on his first trip to the Caribbean, described manatees as mermaids and was disappointed that they were not as pretty as legend had made them out to be. I'm not aware of instances wherein manatees were once called mermaids, although Linnaeus and early taxonomists favored manatees and dugongs with the order "sirenia" after the mythological Greek sirens who lured sailors to their deaths with their songs.

On another note, the 15 foot manatee cited in the species account comes from a paper by Gunter, a mamalogist in the southern US who worked in the region from the 1940s and later. There's some thought that manatees could indeed reach this length in the past - nowadays most Florida manatees rarely reach 10 to 15 years of age and, therefore, don't reach their maximum growth potential. I believe that the most recent record length for a Florida manatee was 411 cm (whatever that translates to). The cited 3500 pound, 13 foot manatee was an anomaly - the measurements came from a fresh dead female carrying twin fetuses. The weight was atypical, although the length was within the range of some of the larger animals whose carcasses have been recovered.

[edit] Does Manatee live outside of the water as well?

Manatees (and dugongs) are mammals and must surface to breathe air. However, they are totally aquatic. In other words they spend thier entire lives in the water - they do not spend anytime on land. This is different from other marine mammals such as seals and sealions, which come out of the water to breed and birth thier young. Mermaid101 07:31, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Manatees are indeed aquatic animals and spend their lives in the water. However, there are specific instances wherein manatees (and possibly dugongs)come out of the water. Manatees occasionally beach and wind up in tidal pools and/or mudflats. When harassed, they may attempt to "pect walk" where they use their pectorals to get out of the tide pools or mudflats and back into the water. Estrous females, when pursued by amorous males, may attempt to elude their suitors by beaching themselves. Amazonian manatees, during drought periods, wind up in very shallow muddy stretches of water where they fast and wait for the rains to come. (That's apparently a very hazardous situation for them - they are very visible to locals who hunt manatees in these pools. I believe that there's also a paper documenting a manatee killed by a panther foraging in one of these pools.) Manatees in habitats where they must feed on fringing plants will occasionally pull their upper body onto the shore while feeding. Don't know much about dugongs, although there's an account of dugongs stranded on land due to a typhoon (or whatever they're called in Australia.)

[edit] Marilyn Manson's Mystery Manatee

This line:

"Marilyn Manson is said to own a manatee (a West Indian Manatee to be precise) named Jamal who lives in his swimming pool"

was on the page toward the bottom until I removed it today.

It seems rather unlikely that Marilyn Manson owns a Manatee named Jamal that he keeps in his swimming pool. I haven't turned up any mention of this online-- if anybody has a reliable reference to this, please respond. Otherwise, it's just silly.

That fact is derived from an episode of British comedy Bo Selecta, in which Manson was lampooned in the show's spoof of MTV Cribs. Naturally, it isn't true.

[edit] Manatees have toenails?

Wait, what? Wouldn't the manatee be more related to, say, the dugong? Or, perhaps, the porpose or seal or dolphin or some other aquatic mammal? Wouldn't they be more closely related to whales than to elephants? Surely whales once came from the land, too, due to vestigal hind legs still existing in their skeletal systems, but I don't see why manatees would be at all closely related to the elephant. Can I see some sources for this claim in the "Genetics" section, please? -JC 07:17, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Manatees may be more closely related to elephants than whales and dolphins, I don't know. I removed the entire thing. I suppose elephants and manatees are both sub-ungulates, but I don't see that as signifigant. The closest living relatives of manatees are obviously dugongs, as they share an order. Revert (but add a source) if someone thinks it should be there. Thursday Postal 15:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
The manatee is more closely related to the dugong. But they are not more closely related to the whales than to elephants. Sirenians share a common ancestor with the elephant and recent genetic analysis confirms the relationship even better than does mere anatomical inspection (toenails, elephant-like skin, trunk-like lip formation etc). This is readily discerned by doing ANY level of casual research at all, as you can hardly find a source that doesn't claim a familial relationship exists between elephants, manatees and dugongs. If the information needs to be cited in order to appear here, than that's fine. But if you "don't see why manatees would be at all closely related to the elephant" than you must have, prior to posting a veracity challenge regarding manatee biology, arrived at everything you know about the manatee directly from this article, which is strange since you must necessarily have access to the rest of the internet. Rothic 15:04, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Popular culture

[1]: Removed as nonnotable. Please don't let this degrade like llama or squirrel, where half the page consists of semi-notable media references and random trivia collections. There's nothing wrong with having a cultural references section, if it's on the level like that of rabbit for example. But I don't think explanations of obvious insults and cartoon side gags are of encyclopedic notability to this article. Femto 13:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I think that manatees' appearance on South Park should remain in the section, as it illustrates manatees' rising popularity and is simply an interesing tidbit.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Imaginate (talk • contribs) .

I tend to concur with Femto. Minor references are not notable. --TeaDrinker 23:59, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

If popularity is rising, the page may summarize that fact. But a listing of individual media references is out of place in this article. Details on fictional tanks at Fox Studios aren't even marginally relevant to the animal. Trivia could be included through a seealso link to a list of cultural references to manatees page, similar for example to the South Park references at list of cultural references to Stephen King. Sooner or later, someone will feel that The Simpsons are at least as notable as South Park and adds them to the list. Doubtlessly we'll see it grow with more random facts; I'd rather not. Femto 12:33, 1 August 2006 (UTC)


They like mercky water and live in a group.

[edit] Habitat

I never heard of Manatees living in the St. Lawrence River and am pretty sure this is wrong. They have been spotted in the Hudson River, which joins the Atlantic on the US East coast. To reach the St. Lawrence they'd have to go all the way up to Newfoundland. Anybody who knows something about this want to comment? -- Aepstein607 August 7, 2006

I think you're correct; the habitat does not extend that far north. I removed the uncited statement about it. There have, as you note (and is mentioned in the article) a few that have strayed north but not that far north and not permanently. There seemed to be a cryptozoological site [2] about a St. Lwrence population, but I am unaware of (and would be greatly surprised by) any evidence for resident populations there. --TeaDrinker 18:29, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

I live in Near the Hudson and yes, it was in the news that there were a couple of manatee sightings during the summer. They were only there for a short period of time though.

[edit] Water from a hose and lettuce?

In the disposition section it says "manatees enjoy drinking water from a hose and eating lettuce." I might be able to believe that manatees like eating lettuce, but drinking water from a hose? That seems rather far fetched. I am removing it. If someone wants to find a citation, then put it back up. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Onenotesymphony (talk • contribs) .

Even if a source were provided, I don't know that it is a terribly encyclopedic fact. I think removal is appropriate. --TeaDrinker 16:00, 8 August 2006 (UTC)


They live in the sea/ocean so they are wild. If you capture them they will get over stressed, do if you want to go to Seaworld and see them thats fine but they are wild animals so don't kill them... please, it's for the infiorment.


Indeed, manatees do enjoy drinking fresh water from a hose. They can even be baited with it.

[edit] Page Vandalism

Anonymous user 201.224.171.194 has returned for the third time since August 7th to vandalize this page with a nonsensical entry of the word "Noor." Reference removed, page reverted. - Corporal Tunnel 15:29, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eating manatees

I keep puting up "Eating Manatees" because it's true. I have verifiable sources, I have websites, books, and first hand accounts. Why is it being deleted? I have stated, that Manatees are not eaten any more, because they're endangered, but they used to be. --Adam Wang 16:18, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

If you have a verifiable source, add it back in an appropriate section and leave a source. Truth isn't as important here as verifiability, sadly, but information that can be verified and has some importance should be kept. As much as the thought of eating manatees makes me sad, Wikipedia is not censored just because I don't want to think about eating manatees :P -JC 16:41, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
From the same author of the twice-deleted Manatee Steak article. Any edible animal gets eaten by someone, somewhere. I've left two sentences. A reference for the fact doesn't automatically give encyclopedic notability to quoting recipes. Yeah, an image of a manatee with a badly photoshopped overlay of a t-bone steak is funny, once. Now cut that out and stop fooling around. Femto 12:25, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
I have again reverted; while the section seems more encyclopedic, I think this discussion pushes me towards needing more citations for the section before it is included. --TeaDrinker 03:54, 16 August 2006 (UTC) As I look, the reference [3] provided does document the section, however it is virtually plagerized from it. Continuing to leave out the section. --TeaDrinker 04:10, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merging

It has been suggested that Eating Manatees be merged with Manatee. I disagree. I wasn't done Eating Mantees when the merge was suggested. When i'm done, the article should be longer by at least 4 times. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MUBOTE (talk • contribs) .

[edit] Manatee meat

See also Talk:Manatee meat and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manatee meat

(Comment from AfD) - MUBOTE/Adam Wang, may I suggest you familiarize yourself with some basic editing guidelines. May I also suggest that you refrain from creating detailed content on manatee meat, until the topic was discussed at Talk:Manatee, a few more verifiable, reliable sources were provided, and some demand for the topic was determined in the first place. So far you're the only one who wants to create content on this, and your zeal is less admirable than it is suspicious.

I seem to recall the image of manatee meat in your first article was fake. The obvious t-bone nonsense not to mention. You uploaded a manatee cut chart 'made myself', which appeared before on a joke recipe site, whose text you also copied. You have "This user would like to eat manatees" on your user page. Historical facts aside, manatee meat is a running gag on the internet, and you provided no evidence that you're serious with this content. Femto 12:25, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

(From User talk:Femto) - I found several books on manatee meat, websites on manatee hunting, and other information. I'm fixing the copy vio. I don't write hoaxes. My cousin did, on my account, so I changed the password, and all the BS has stopped. This is not a hoax. Unlike things such as Beef, which are a major part of most cultures, Manatee meat is generally unique to the Carribean. Manatee meat is as much a part of Carribean culture as Frog legs are to the French, Dumplings are to the Chinese, and Pasta is to the Italians. Just because something is illegal, doesn't mean it is a hoax. Cocaine is illegal. If this article had no copy vio problems, and I research and add the sources, I see no problem with it. You may think it is a hoax, but there are many books that include information on the fact that manatees were eaten. And I didn't know I couldn't restart my talk page by the way. It said it was too long, so i opted to fix it. Sorry. Thank you for your time. --Adam Wang 02:24, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More Sources

(From AfD) - Here are some more sources:

  1. Here
  2. Here
  3. Here (From a Book)
  4. Here
  5. A Book which states that manatees were eaten
  6. Another Book, with text quotes
  7. [http://books.google.ca/books?ct=title&q=manatee+meat&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0 Just search, " Manatee Meat," on google books, and see what you get.
  8. Think Quest Site
  9. A Book
  • "Manatee meat and oil were once major consumer items throughout this mammal's entire range, and were regional and even international trade items from the 18th to the 20th centuries (and until very recently in some areas), but the now-depleted populations have shrivelled output. Poaching and a certain amount of illegal trading of manatee meat still persist in some isolated regions, spurred by the high unit value of the animal and its vulnerability to capture under certain circumstances (111, 245, 407, 545)." Courtesy of This Site.

--Adam Wang 02:02, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, manatees are made of meat and sometimes people eat them, that's what the sources say. I'd be fine with a short section on historical hunting at manatee, as cited by these sources.
But they don't say anything about barbeque, cholesterol, or garlic and onion recipes, which make up the most part of manatee meat. The rest is a detailed an unencyclopedic reproduction taken from one travelogue website about hitting manatees on the skull with a club. If this unsourced content is removed there only remain the two sentences that are already here.
That your cousin abused your account earlier to create BS on this topic doesn't exactly make it easier for you to prove your intentions now. For all I know, it could be a bet between you two on how much the BS content needs to be reduced before you can make the article get to stick as borderline encyclopedic.
I suggest that you propose content to be added here on the talk page first. You can also create a draft article User:MUBOTE/Manatee meat on a user subpage of yours for review. Please don't add this content yourself right away, but get second opinions from other editors and let them decide. Femto 12:34, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Manatees

Do not capture them because they will get over stressed and die.

[edit] Northern Manatee

Several times someone has added an extenal link to a geocities site which purports to save the St. Lawrence Manatee. I am somewhat incredulous that there are any manatee in the St. Lawrence river. Famously, Chessie (a stray, non-resident manatee) made it as far as New York. The winter temp. however does seem to prohibit year-round habitation. I would like some documentation from the scientific lit about manatees with cold-weather adaptationsliving in the St. Lawrence before the site is added back. Thoughts? --TeaDrinker 15:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

See also the "habitat" section above. --TeaDrinker 15:43, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
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