Posts Tagged With: science

GIVE THANKS TO MANATEES!

November is Manatee Appreciation Month and we’re giving thanks to these gentle creatures today with fun fact and pictures! Who else wants to smooch those sweet faces?

• Manatees are also called sea cows. These sea cows are distance relatives of Ellie’s!
• They live in coastal waters and rivers in Southern Coastal United States, South America and Western Africa. There are 3 species of manatees.

• They have strong flat tails they use to swim!
• Their nostrils sit on top to help them breathe air.
• Manatees are herbivores. They eat algae and grasses.
• They can eat 1/10th of their weight in a day.

• They can weigh up to 1,300 lbs.
• These slow swimmers have very little blubber to keep them warm. They must stay in waters above 68 degrees to survive.
• Manatees are endangered, due to pollution- getting caught in trash, hunting and boating accidents.

We know we appreciate manatees and we sure hope you do too! Let’s give thanks by keeping our oceans and waterways clean!

A WHALE OF A TRIP!

We headed to Monterey California in October and went on a whale watching trip! We spotted the famous Humpback whale! These gorgeous giants make the longest migration of any mammal on earth! Some populations travel farther than others, so let’s all learn more about these cetaceans!

• Humpback whales live in oceans all over the world.

• Humpback whales are baleen whales. They eat small prey like krill, plankton and small fish.
• They are listed as least concern by the IUCN. Some populations like the one we saw in Monterey Bay had been decimated at one time!
• They are 48-63 feet long and can weigh up to 40 tons.
• Male humpback whales sing songs! These can be heard over great distances and can go on for hours! These haunting sounds make us wish we could speak whale!
• Some populations head to waters near the poles where food is abundant in the summer and then migrate to warmer waters to calve. This migration can be as long as 1
• Humpback whales are thought to live around 80 years.

• Humpback whales have two v-shaped blowholes on top of their head.
• Females tend to be bigger than males.
• Humpback whales have long pectoral flippers that are 1/3 of their body length.
• Humpback whales have tubricales (bumps) on their head. These are unique to them and contain hair that may act like whiskers on a cat!

Humpback whales are amazing gentle giants! We had such fun looking for their tale-tail spouts when they came to the surface to breath! We saw some pectoral flipper slaps and several flukes!