¡°Look at the manatee, look at the manatee¡¯s head coming outside the river!! ¡° my friends and I screamed out when we saw manatees leaning out the rivershore, they were so amazing to observe them that we screamed out loud of emotion. Ten years later, I walk near the river and how I wish I could see some of them. What happened during that period of time with the manatees? Where have they gone? Two questions that burst within my mind. It turns out that human being is the cause of their absence, we neglected river is a world of living beings and we polluted, destroyed habitats and diminished specimens, as a result extinction has put on. Unfortunately, manatee is one of the millions of victims. In this article, as a way of commemorating this month of Environment Day 2020, with the theme of biodiversity, I am going to write about the amazonian manatee, so that we can explore better one of our biodiversity in the world. Then, I am going to mention its habitat, its feeding, its reproduction, and the main hazards the specie is suffering. The Amazonian manatee, whose scientific name is Trichechus inunguis is one of the three speciciens of manatee worldwide. The animal¡¯s skin is smooth and dark, there is no hair and it has a white patch on the abdomen. Besides, it can reach the 2.8 m of length and weights around 450 Kg. Where do they live? We can find this kind of manatee in the amazon basin, which include territories such as Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru. Frequently, they accustom to be within lakes and rivers. On the other hand, they are known to be isolated, except for the females when they have hatchlings. What do the Amazonian manatees eat? These animals are herbivores. Then they feed exclusively from aquatic plants and semiaquatic such as lettuce water (pistia). In a day, they can reach eating around 8% of their body mass. They can eat more during rain season due to it is related to the increase of aquatic vegetation. In order, to be safe , they consume a lot to generate body fat until the tough time arrives, when there is lack of feeding. How do they reproduce? The Amazonian manatee¡¯s reproduction is linked to the hydrological cycle of the region. I mean during the period of food abundance is more likely they reproduce. Furthermore, the period of gestation of a manatee is approximately for about 12 to 14 months, where just a hatchling borns, which is going to stay with the mother during two years until it is enough developed to start its own life. What are the main hazards the manatee faces? In my country manatees have been hunted since 1542 because of their meat, fat and skin. What is still alarming is that there is no low protection in all the Amazonia region, for this animal yet. Therefore, people continue hunting them. On the other hand, its habitat degradation due to deforestation and pollution is another reason they are in risk of extinction and as a result the International Union for Conservation of Nature's ( IUCN) declared its vulnerable condition worldwide However, since 2009 in my city Iquitos, an Amazonian place has arisen an organization aiming to conserve this specie. Since 2018, has already been possible to rescue more than 48 manatees in danger and 21 were liberated successfully. It is called Mongabay, if you would like to know more about the situation of this animal, I invite you to visit the page: https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/amazonian-manatee-migration-at-risk-from-disruption-by-proposed-dams/ Reference:
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7 Comments
Greetings alan
I hope you are doing well
Thank you so much for this report
Keep writing
Green cheers
Regards
Asmita Gaire
Posted 29-09-2020 23:59
Hello
I hope you are fine and doing good.
Thank you for this informative report
Keep writing.
Green Cheers.
Regards,
Paras Kunwar
Posted 01-08-2020 02:14
Hello Alan,
It was a beautiful report.
Great to hear from you!
Keep writing.
Regards
Asmita
Posted 20-07-2020 18:25
Hello,
This is Bal krishna Pandey from Nepal.
I would like to express my gratitude to you for this wonderful report. It is a good news to read this kind of beautifully written detailed report.
keep writing keep shining
green cheers~
Posted 12-07-2020 19:22
Nice effort
Keep it up.
Posted 03-07-2020 01:08
Hello Alan
Thank you for your participation in the monthly event!
Posted 02-07-2020 09:10
Thanks for sharing Alan.
Posted 29-06-2020 14:14