In spite of efforts by park guards who patrol protected areas along the gulf coast in Honduras, some fishermen continue to fix nets that can drown manatees. Another threat to the marine mammals is pollution from sugar refineries and other industries in the nearby city of San Pedro Sula, he says. In a single day a manatee consumes up to nine percent of its 3,000 pounds of body weight in wet vegetation. It spends about five hours a day feeding. Manatees feed in the edge of seagrass beds because the nearby deeper areas offer them an escape route.
Female manatees begin reproducing at about four years of age.
Calves are born usually every three to four years. All Rights Reserved. Inc. All Rights Reserved.