### animal | vertebrate | mammal:

Manatee
* All manatees are herbivores, they eat plants
  - threatened or endangered
  - eat vegetation
  - have sparse hair scattered over their bodies
  - inhabit tropical and subtropical waters of North and South America and Africa
* Many manatees die from internal injuries sustained when hit by the hull of boats including airboats.
* Many manatees have scars caused primarily by boat propellers
  - visible scars from propeller cuts in their flesh
* Most manatees appear in areas
  - sea
* Most manatees are inside oceans
  - cope with conditions
* Most manatees depend on food
* Most manatees feed in bays
  - rivers
  - float in water
  - give birth to calves
  - habitually use the same warm refuges each year
* Most manatees has-part bones
  - brains
  - lobes
  - necks
  - nostrils
  - teeth
  - vertebrae
* Most manatees have a pattern of scars on their backs or tails from collisions with boats
  - boat motor scars on their backs
  - density
  - ear bones
* Most manatees have high density
  - population density
  - intestines
  - natural predators
  - patterns on their backs and tails after suviving collisions with boats
  - snouts
  - wide distribution
  - inhabit coastal areas
* Most manatees live in areas
  - fresh water
  - quiet areas
  - rivers and bays in Florida
  - salt water
  - waterways
  - migrate in winter
  - move through water
* Most manatees occur in Florida
* Most manatees possess babies
  - heartbeats
  - incisors
  - prefer water
* Most manatees rely on warm water
* Most manatees require oxygen
  - return to oceans
* Most manatees swim in estuaries
  - thrive in lagoons
* Most manatees use flippers
  - utilize water
  - wash up on beaches
* Some manatees are inside rivers
  - belong to families
* Some manatees depend on eyes
* Some manatees die each year from exposure to the cold, especially recently weaned sub-adults
  - feed in oceans
* Some manatees has-part molars
  - nipples
* Some manatees have chests
  - fingernails
  - sanctuaries
  - three or four nails on the tip of each flipper
* Some manatees inhabit environments
  - lakes
  - marine environments
  - live in Florida
* Some manatees play in rivers
* Some manatees reach maturity
  - sexual maturity
  - share ancestors
  - swim in vegetation
  - utilize diversity
* also converge around power plant outfalls and warm-water discharges
  - drown in gill nets, or get trapped in canal locks or floodgates
  - eat algae
* also have hair on their bodies which is fine and one to two inches in length
  - two other special breathing adaptations
* also use deep-water channels when traveling, so be cautious
  - their vibrissae to navigate the turbid waterways of their environment
* are a little bigger than dugongs
  - migratory species
* are able to move freely from saltwater to freshwater
  - sense odors in the water
  - steer, bank, and roll simply by adjusting tail position
  - active day and night
  - agile and play by twisting and turning over to express emotions
* are also a federally listed endangered species in the United States
  - snorkelers and have to come up to the surface every few minutes to breath
  - vulnerable to collisions with speedboats
  - among the least mermaidenly of all mammals
  - an endangered species of ancient water mammals with no enemies except for humans
* are an endangered species, protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act
  - with a few thousand, at most, left in U.S. waters
  - at risk of disease, malnutrition and other hazards as a result
* are big and gray
  - gray mammals that are very kind and gentle
  - born underwater
* are completely harmless and nonaggressive and are often shy and reclusive
  - herbivorous
  - distant relatives of elephants
  - endangered mammals
  - found in both salt and fresh water
  - fragile animals
  - from the prehistoric era
  - gentle creatures that enjoy being patted and pet by humans
  - giant, slow-moving, gentle animals that feed on plants in shallow coastal waters
  - grayish-brown
  - grazers who search for food along the waters bottom and surface
  - grey and brown in color
  - hard of hearing
* are herbivores and are essential in grazing certain marine plants
  - eat marine and freshwater plants
  - feed on a variety of submerged, emergent and floating plants
  - subsist entirely on vegetation
  - they maintain their giant size by feeding primarily on seagrass
  - which feed upon a wide variety of submerged and emergent vegetation
* are herbivores, and eat a large variety of submerged, emergent, and floating plants
  - mainly grass eaters
  - meaning they eat only plants
  - which means that they only consume plants
  - herbivorous , meaning they feed on plants
* are herbivorous animals and spend six to eight hours a day eating
  - that eat submerged, floating, emergent and shoreline vegetation
  - intolerant of cold weather
  - known as generalist herbivores
* are large friendly mammals which inhabit the fresh water rivers and springs of Florida
  - marine mammals
* are large, gentle sea creatures that live along the Florida coast
  - slow-moving animals that frequent coastal waters and rivers
  - long-lived and reproduce slowly
  - mammals that live in warm fresh water and seawater
  - marine mammals that belong to the order Sirenia, from the word siren
* are marine mammals, just like whales and dolphins
  - like dolphins and whales
  - which means they live in the water and breathe air
* are migratory and concentrate in Florida in the winter
  - animals adapted to both saltwater and freshwater habitats
  - nonaggressive, gentle mammals
* are one of the best-loved, yet most controversial, species in Florida
  - most endangered species, yet one of the most gentle creatures on earth
  - only animals that keep replacing their teeth their entire lives
  - placental mammals
  - primarily herbivorous, feeding on sea grasses and other vegetation
  - reptiles if and only if lemurs are birds
* are sea cows
  - slate gray to brownish in color with slightly wrinkled skin
* are slow moving animals
  - mammals that frequent the water's surface
  - slow-moving creatures that feed on aquatic vegetation
  - the most studied of Florida's rare creatures
* are the only animal known to have a vascularized cornea
  - marine mammals that are herbivores
  - world's only truly herbivorous, aquatic mammals
  - under constant stress on our waterways
* are usually grayish brown
  - slow but they can get fast
  - vegetarians
* are very agile and maneuver quite well underwater
  - gentle, slow-moving, graceful swimmers
  - sensitive to sound
* are very slow animals which result of their low metabolic rate
  - susceptible to cold weather
  - what are called hind-gut animals
  - year round residents in Florida's coastal waterways
* attract attention.
* avoid specific plants such as splatterdock and waterpennywort that contain natural toxins
  - plants, such as spatterdock and waterpennywort, that contain natural toxins
* breathe through their nostrils, just like seals.
* breed year-round, but most calves are born in the spring and summer.
* bring food.
* can also die as a result of sustained exposure to cold
  - breed and give birth at any time during the year
* can hear quite well, at least at high frequencies
  - very well despite the absence of external ear lobes
* can live for several decades
  - in fresh and salt water
  - see fairly well underwater
  - stay submerged for up to fifteen minutes
  - take of their own freshwater needs
* cluster in winter where plants discharge warm water.
* come from sea.
* communicate by squealing under water to demonstrate fear, stress or excitement
  - through sound, sight, taste, touch, and smell
* communicate with each other by emitting sounds underwater that are audible to humans
  - squeaks and squeals
* comprise three of the four living species in the order Sirenia.
* continuously replace worn teeth.
* count among their close relatives the elephant and the rock hyrax.
* depend on food that is vegetation
  - grass beds in shallow coastal zones for food and habitat
  - seagrass and other aquatic vegetation for food
* destroy seagrass beds by tearing the vegetation out by the roots.
* die from natural circumstances as well, such as cold stress or disease.
* do lots of chewing
  - typically perform a diving behavior when a boat approaches
* drink fresh water.
* eat many different kinds of water plants
  - plants all day
  - submerged and floating vegetation
* emit sound under the water
* especially depend on rainforests.
* exhibit symptoms.
* face many challenges to survive in the wild.
* feed almost exclusively on plants that grow in fresh and saltwater environments.
  - off the bottom, in the water column, and at the surface
* feed on plants that grow in the water like water weeds, sea grasses, and algae
  - the vegetation they find in the shallow water of rivers and along coastlines
* float, swim and rest all within water.
* frequently migrate great distances and return to a favorite spot.
* get their freshwater from river mouths, run-offs and water treatment plant outfalls.
* give birth to one baby each year
  - young each year
  - their young in the seclusion of isolated rivers and inlets
* go into heat.
* grow new teeth all the time.
* have a difficult life coexisting with the human species
  - horizontally flattened tail fluke and a pair of front flippers like whales do
  - large flexible upper lip
  - large, double-nostriled snout
  - low reproduction rate
  - nictitating membrane that can be drawn across their eyeball for protection
* have a nictitating membrane which can be drawn across the eyeball for protection
  - is an extra inner eyelid protecting the eye
  - pinhole on each side of their head that looks like a small dimple
  - round, flattened paddle-shaped tail, and two front flippers
  - slow reproductive rate
  - tough, wrinkled brown to gray skin that is continually being sloughed off
  - about as many aggressive tendencies as they do eyelashes
  - an endless supply of molars
* have an enormous ability to fight infection because they posses so many white blood cells
  - capacity to eat aquatic plants
  - unusual adaption which minimizes the impact of wear
  - exceptional hearing
* have few natural predators
  - predators other than man
  - fingernails at the tips of their flippers
  - four toe nails
  - large ear bones that are well developed at birth
  - lungs like humans and breathe through there nostrils
  - minds of their own
* have natural enemies
* have no dorsal fin or dorsal ridge
  - external ear lobes, very small eyes, a long snout and big, bristled lips
  - externally discernible neck
  - nomadic tendencies, pausing in areas that supply their needs and then moving on
  - olfactory tissue on small internal nasal bones and can probably smell
  - only six neck vertebrae
  - paddlelike tails and foreflippers, and no hind limbs
  - sensitive tactile hairs that cover their bodies and faces called vibrissae
  - shorter snouts than their fellow sirenians , the dugongs
  - slow metabolisms, and cold water can drain their body heat
  - smallish, puffy-looking heads adorned with a wide, blunt snout and short whiskers
  - well-developed eyes
  - wide-ranging migratory habits
* includes breasts
  - cell membranes
  - chest cavities
  - corpi
  - cytoplasm
  - ears
  - nuclei
  - pedal extremities
  - piluses
  - plasma membranes
  - rib cages
  - sections
  - skulls
  - sterna
  - vacuoles
  - vertebrate feet
* ingest various debris incidental to feeding.
* inhabit areas
  - estuaries and interlacing channels
  - the Southern Hemisphere and are easiest to find in Florida
* lift heads.
* like to bask in warm water just under the surface, and they are slow swimmers
  - be touched and scratched
  - eat sea grasses and other plants
  - hang out by the surface of the water and sunbathe
  - spend the winter in the spring run
  - both fresh and salt water
  - estuarine waters
  - marshy lands of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
* live in salt water and in fresh water
  - shallow, calm rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas
  - the United States in the waters off Florida
* live on seagrass
  - the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the rivers
* love water.
* make their home in shallow coastal waters, bays, and springs
  - underwater sounds when frightened, sexually aroused or interacting with each other
  - into warmer places in the winter
* mostly give birth to single calf, but it has been known to give twins
  - live alone
* move in slow motion
  - slowly and have difficulty evading boats operating at planing speeds
  - slowly, and they are also slow to reproduce
* need warmth.
* never go on land.
* occupy a wide variety of estuarine and freshwater habitats in Florida and Georgia.
* often congregate near power plants, which warm the waters
  - return to the same location, wintering year after year
  - swim alone or in pairs
  - travel alone, in pairs or in small groups
* particularly enjoy grazing on submerged vascular plants.
* pollute the water by discharging their wastes.
* possess an amazingly reduced pelvis
  - sides
* prefer estuaries, rivers or coastal waters
  - freshwater aquatic habitats and coastal saltwater marshes
* probably recognize each other by the sounds they make and by touch.
* produce squeaks and chirps.
* range from Florida to the Atlantic coast of central Brazil
  - in color from gray to brown
* reach sexual maturity in two to five years.
* return to a normal, shallow dive after a single breath
  - locations
* roam oceans
* seek food
  - shelter
* share water.
* show little fear of people.
* sleep at the bottom
  - with the nostrils poking above the water
* sometimes live in fresh water and some have even lived in Lake Okeechobee.
* spend most of their day feeding and resting.
* spend most of their time eating, sleeping and moving from one patch of weeds to the next
  - feeding, resting or travelling
  - some of their time cruising in shallow water near the surface
  - the majority of their lives feeding and resting
  - their lives moving between freshwater, brackish, and saltwater environments
* still have nails.
* swim alone, in pairs or in small groups of three to six animals.
  - slowly and on the surface in shallower areas
  - two to six miles per hour
  - some of the lagoons, as well as crocodiles
* to digest food.
* use their front flippers and large, flexible lips to manipulate vegetation
  - lips and front flippers to move the plants into the mouth
* use their tail in an up and down motion to propel themselves forward
  - to propel themselves forward and are surprisingly agile in the water
* use various forms of communication in the water such as sound, sight, taste and touch
* usually bear one calf although twins have been recorded
  - give birth to their young during the winter stay at the warm water springs
* venture into deep ocean water
+ Manatee, Habitat
  * Manatees live in salt water and in fresh water. On the sea shores they mostly live in shallow water, like lagoons and mangroves. They also live in brackish water and rivers.