Manatees

Manatees With a face only its mother could love, a body able to discourage any predators just because of its large size and the knack for gaining popularity even as its population decreases, the Florida manatee has become an icon of Florida wildlife. In January 2000, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission counted only a little more than 2,200 manatees surviving. In 1999, the all-time high death toll was 268, and within the first three months of this year, 100 had already died. The Florida manatee is on the brink of extinction. The manatee is a large, seal-like body that tapers to a powerful flat tail. Two agile forelimbs with three to four toenails on each, which act like arms to help the manatee move in shallow water, grasp and move food toward their mouths, and act like flippers during swimming. Thick and wrinkled skin with a rough texture - a bit jiggly under the neck and arms. Their skin reacts to touch, their bodies are very muscular - contracting and changing shape slightly when scratched or tickled. Powerful upper lips which articulate to help move manatee, manatees, florida, years, lbs, body, sounds, large, endangered, breath, act, wildlife, very, swimming, surface, species, sound, protection, population, one, natural, move, months, every, even, during, believed, around, air, about, 40, year, within, wild, weighing