Distinguishing sea cows and manatees easily: Two rare creatures that look quite similar, very easy!

One of the two species occurs in the whole sea of ​​our country.

In your opinion, where is a sea cow, where is a manatee?

Manatee (Scientific name: Sirenia) and manatee (Scientific name: Trichechus) are two creatures with quite similar appearance, so at first glance it will be easy to confuse, they are both in the order Sirenia, so they have similar morphology with (See photo below).

The sea cow is a sea creature with a shuttle-shaped body, often called a mermaid or mermaid because its tail resembles a mermaid, its forelimbs are paddle-shaped, used to change direction when swimming, their skin is very thick and sparsely hairy.

The head is relatively large compared to the proportions of the body, sea cows have poor eyesight, but in return, their sense of smell is extremely sharp. Their lips are very thick, jagged and flat to adapt to the life of eating seaweed and algae on the seabed.

Sea cow.

Males also have tusks similar to ivory, and this is the target of many hunters because of its high value. Currently, the sea cow is threatened with extinction at the critically endangered (CR) level in the Vietnam Red Book and the endangered species in the World Red List (IUCN).

Manatees usually live and migrate in pairs, swim very slowly and are not dangerous to humans; They sleep during the day and go foraging at night. Occasionally, sea cows come to the surface to get oxygen. Their ability to hold their breath is usually 15 minutes.

Every day, manatees can consume 10 to 30 kg of grass, the life expectancy of sea cows is quite long (more than 70 years old). Currently, the number of sea cows remaining is very small, distributed mainly in the Indo-West Pacific region such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam.

Manatees.

Manatees are also marine mammals that live entirely in the water, eat plants but are usually larger in size than manatees. The snout of manatees is also shorter than that of manatees, the upper lip is larger than the lower lip, so it is very flexible so it can be grasped, used to get food and communicate or interact socially.

Manatees do not have fangs like manatees and they don't even have incisors, but only a set of cheek teeth, which can grow back throughout the manatee's life. Their tails are anchor-shaped, quite similar to whales.

The manatee's stomach is also much simpler than the manatee's (manatees have a very long digestive system to absorb nutrients). Manatees lead a solitary lifestyle rather than living in pairs like manatees, with males chasing females during the breeding season. The feeding time of manatees is daytime.

Manatees also have to come to the surface to breathe (resurfacing every 20 minutes). When in danger, manatees can move quite fast (30 km / h), the life expectancy of manatees is up to 60 years.

Every day, manatees can eat up to 50 kg of food (usually duckweed, ranunculus, grass, need water, seaweed.), equivalent to about 10% - 15% of their body weight. Manatees have high intelligence, similar to dolphins and seals.

A simple way to distinguish sea cows and manatees

The difference between the tail of a manatee and a manatee.

There are many different points to distinguish Dugong (manatee) and Manatee (manatee), but the fastest way is the difference in their tails. Specifically, the tail of a manatee is shaped like a crescent moon (like a mermaid's tail), and the manatee's tail is curved like a paddle.

In addition, there are a number of other features that can help us distinguish these two marine species, which are the shape of their mouth, skin, size, and weight (See photo below).

Distinguish manatees and manatees.

The above are quick ways to distinguish two unique and rare sea creatures by their appearance, of the two species above, only manatees are distributed in our waters (in the waters of Con Dao and Phu Quoc). .