A sea cow (also known as a manatee or dugong) is a large, peaceful, and slow-moving aquatic mammal that is fully adapted to life in the water. Sea cows belong to the order Sirenia.
Surprisingly, their closest living land relative is the elephant.
What do they eat?
They are strict herbivores, feeding primarily on seagrass, algae, and aquatic plants.
Because plants are low in nutrients, they graze for as long as 6 to 8 hours a day.
They have a stout, streamlined body with flippers and thick, wrinkled skin.
They inhabit shallow coastal waters, estuaries, and slow-flowing rivers.
They must surface regularly—every few minutes—to breathe.
Two main types:
Manatees: Have a rounded, spoon-shaped tail and are found in the Atlantic region (such as the Caribbean, the Amazon basin, and West Africa).
They are also capable of living in freshwater.
Dugongs: Have a forked tail (resembling that of a dolphin) and live exclusively in tropical saltwater environments across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Sea cows have few natural predators in the wild (with the exception of sharks and orcas), but they are vulnerable to human impact.
Collisions with boat propellers and the loss of habitat pose the greatest threats to them.
