Secrets of the Manatee by Diane Morgan

Author:Diane Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Pineapple Press
Published: 2022-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

How Manatees Interact and Behave (Generally Quite Well)

Some animals are nocturnal, like opossums, sneaking around at night. Others are diurnal, like squirrels, running around in daylight. Still others are crepuscular, like deer, preferring the muted light of dawn and dusk. And then there are manatees. They do whatever the heck they want, whenever they like. Time (and time of day) apparently means nothing to them. These quixotic animals can be observed carrying out their regular activities at any time of the day or night. This is especially true during the warmest seasons of the year. In the winter, they tend to gather in the late afternoon to feed and perhaps gossip. They also tend to rest more in the cold weather.

Manatees break up their day into four delightful parts: resting (20–25 percent of their time), eating (20–25 percent), playing (10–15 percent), and traveling (30–45 percent). These numbers are very rough and change by temperature, season, and other factors. One thing is certain: the percentage of time they spend fighting and being disagreeable is 0.

Some scientists have chalked up this lack of scheduling to the fact that manatee brains appear to lack a pineal gland, which regulates this sort of behavior by producing and regulating certain hormones, including melatonin. (They are in good company in this regard with some other marine mammals, hagfish, and mole-rats.) Nearly every other vertebrate has a pineal gland. Walruses and polar bears have really big pineal glands.

At any rate, manatees decided to skip the pineal gland and do not seem to have suffered as a result. The French philosopher René Descartes thought that the pineal gland was “the seat of the soul,” thus implying that manatees are soulless. However, it is patently obvious that manatees have a great deal more soul than Descartes, who got away with torturing animals by claiming they could not feel pain.

Manatees are classed as “semi-social,” and although they seem to get along well with each other and even make special friends, they do not, as a rule, form permanent social-familial bonds like dolphins and in general are considered to have a less complex social life. However, it turns out that the more we know about manatees, the more social they seem. And the more intelligent.

Although manatees often communicate by touch, they also vocalize. Dr. Beth Brady has identified five different call types among sea cows. Source: Rathbun Galen, USFWS ROYALTY FREE (PIXNIO-29366-4015x2700)

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