The West Indian Manatee Of Terre-de-Bas, Guadeloupe (Trichechus Manatus)

Feb 10, 20249 min read

This month's article series will discuss...

the French isle of Terre-de-Bas. Terre de bas translates from French into English into the words bottomland, lowland, or downland. This is most likely due to the very low elevation of the island. This island is a part of the tiny archipelago of the Terre Islands. The Terre Island directly translates from French into English as the Earth islands or the Land islands. However, the name was possibly not meant to be translated. This island is a part of the lesser Antilles & is a part of the municipality of Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe is owned by France as of 2024. This island is in the Atlantic Ocean. It exists in the Caribbean, being approximately 305.90 Nautical / Marine miles from Venezuela. It is also 1221.59 Nautical / Marine miles from Florida, which is a state of the United States. Terre de bas is so small that is often not featured on maps & nautical maps of it are very scarce. The island is extremely biodiverse as it is very untouched by most humans so its natural environment is healthy. It has many nutrients & marine creatures that surround the island. However, this article is not to talk about the island itself but to speak about one of the most important marine creatures in the sea around it. That creature is the marine organism known as the West Indian Manatee. This animal lives around Guadeloupe & often consumes aquatic plants. They are very closely related to dugongs & this species has multiple subspecies. These manatees are friendly & seem to be curious of humans, their curiosity towards humans leads them to occasionally approach humans in the waters. They are completely harmless & are unable to even consume meat so there is no issue of them attacking someone on purpose even if provoked. They will more often just move out of the way instead of reacting violently. They also swim in a way in which their head may poke out of the water. They do not have gills, & are mammals instead. They breathe air & only breathe through their nostrils. The manatee is a social & somewhat affectionate creature, they are also incredibly gentle towards humans. However, they are still wild so avoid contact with the manatee even if it swims up to you. Being quite lazy creatures, they often can be seen lounging around the water or occasionally consuming the marine flora that they come across. They are herbivorous in diet. Additionally, the reason that they are called West Indian manatees is because they are found throughout the western Indies, they are not found anywhere around India or Asia for that matter. In this article, we will discuss the life of the West Indian Manatee, the mating procedures, tactics, practices, & cycles of the West Indian Manatee, the distribution of the West Indian Manatee, & finally the scientific detailings of the West Indian Manatee. With that being said, let us delve into this loveable & lazy creature.

The Life Of The Indian West Manatee

The West Indian manatee was first described by Carl Linnaeus. It was described in 1758 in the book known as the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is not said how or where this animal was first found however it can be assumed that it was spotted in the Caribbean or off the coast of Brazil. The largest West Indian manatee grew to be 15 feet (4.572 meters) long, However, it is rare that a manatee gets this long, it is more likely that they will only grow up to 10.5 feet (3.2004 meters) long. The adult female manatees tend to be larger than then the male manatees on average. The females also tend to be heavier than the males in order to support the females while they are pregnant. They often weigh between 990 pounds (449.056 kilograms) & 3,500 pounds (1587.573 kilograms). This is much less compared to their larger ancestor the Steller sea cow. They live approximately 40 years on average in the wild. However the oldest individual was snooty, who lived to be 68 years old. A manatee's level of intellect is incredibly hard to measure because we cannot exactly test them. They have incredible sensory abilities & have hairs all over their body that they use to feel water ripples in the water around them. These hairs are known as vibrissae. They are able to feel emotions & feel love for each other. They all have unique personalities just like humans, they aren’t too far off from us in social & emotional structure. They are able to communicate these emotions by squeaks & vocalizations. They also have advanced long-term memory & can remember as well as recognize humans whom they have formed bonds with. They also can prefer certain humans over others. It is not exactly clear how long this species, in particular, has existed, however, manatees as a whole have existed for approximately 50 million years. Manatees are not territorial & will live in pairs in certain areas of coastal waters. They swim by moving their tails in an up & down motion in order to propel themselves. They may swim at 5 miles per hour while swimming in this way, however, there is another way that they swim. They may do the same motion but instead on quicker bursts, this will get them at speeds up to 15 miles per hour. When they are resting they look as if they are standing straight up on their tails. They rest for up to 12 hours a day & do sleep. They are herbivores & will only consume aquatic flora. They are not cannibalistic in any form. They will eat whenever they feel like it & do not have feeding cycles. They have no natural predators due to the fact that they are incredibly long & that they have so much blubber that they physically cannot be eaten. They use their flexible frontal limbs in order to hold vegetation while they consume it. They also use these limbs to steer around water. They are most often gray in color but can range from black to light brown. Their skin is wrinkled & covered sparsely with vibrissae are sometimes spotted with algae or even barnacles. They have large, heavy, rounded & oval-shaped bodies with paired flippers & a round paddle-shaped tail.

The Mating Practices, Procedures, Tactics & Cycles Of The West Indian Manatee

West Indian manatees mate via sexual reproduction. They are not monogamous & will mate with a new male or female every season. They do appear to have a particular mating season, this season being from March to November. However, mating is a year-round activity. The female manatees will reach sexual maturity at 3-5 years old. The males may reach maturity as late as 7 years old. They are not hermaphroditic & are unable to change sexes. It is currently unclear as to whether calves are able to be born intersex or not. The females are most fertile at 7-20 years old. The females will reproduce every 2-5 years & will usually only reproduce 1 single calf. Having twins is incredibly rare & dangerous for the mother. The approximate gestation period of a West Indian manatee is 11-12 months. The baby will be born underwater. The calf will stay with the mother for 2 years, during this time the calf will drink milk from its mother. West Indian manatees are able to lactate. The area from which the milk comes out is the nipple which is located just behind the forelimb of the mother. When the mother is ready to mate she will attract the males & form mating herds. The females will also exhibit searching behaviors. These main behavior is dispersing anal gland mucus onto logs or various other objects in order to attract males to her. As many as 20 males will follow the females in the mating herd. They will push & shove each other in order to have a higher chance of mating with the female. They will mate via internal fertilization. This means that the male will use his penis to eject the semen into the female. There are also certain areas where manatees will go specifically when looking for a mate.

The Distribution Of The West Indian Manatee

The West Indian manatee is found all throughout the Caribbean. It has been found especially high density throughout the Gulf of Mexico. It is found as far south as northern Brazil & as far north as the US state of Virginia. They prefer warmer water most likely due to there being a higher quantity of algae & seaweed in tropical areas. It is not found on the western side of the Panama Canal. This species does have multiple subspecies however it is not often found in one of the species' primary areas. These subspecies are Trichechus Manatus Manatus (Antillean manatee) & Trichechus Manatus Latirostros. There are no other subspecies of Trichechus Manatus as of 2024. However, this may change.

The Scientific Detailings Of The West Indian Manatee

Manatees are interesting for many reasons, but especially because they only eat aquatic plants yet they grow to about the size of a horse or a dwarf cattle. The reason that they can eat only aquatic flora & still be absurdly large for this is because they have incredibly low bodily fat. The majority of the space in their body is taken up by organs. They do not need very much insulation because they are in a tropical area. This means that they are already warm enough therefore they do not need much protection from the cold. It is scientifically proven that The output of the heat from the food digesting in their body helps manatees avoid being as cold & as affected by the cold in the winter. In conclusion, manatees are not fat at all they just have extremely large organs. This means theoretically by restricting the size of the organs on a manatee that the manatee will be smaller. Even though they are incredibly large they can somersault about the water & go onto land every now & then. They are then able to slip back into the water with ease. They are incredibly agile creatures. This species is classified as Vulnerable under the IUCN red list. A manatee's teeth are short, stubby, blunt, & rounded. This is due to their herbivorous appetite & diet. These teeth are used to grind the plants enough to the point where they are able to swallow it. The teeth are also further toward the back of the jaw as opposed to humans. With age, the individual tooth will also grow 2 notches in it. This will cause the tooth to flatten over time. A manatee will have between 24 & 32 teeth, however, it is usually closer to 28 teeth than 32.

The image above depicts the bodily system of a manatee. As can be seen, they do have individual bones for fingers. This is a remanent of their ancestors, these ancestors would also evolve into elephants. Their leg bones have long disappeared however the arms have not yet become an evolutionary thing of the past. These fingers in their arm-like limbs help them move water about, hold food in place, & many other things. They are extremely flexible, they are somewhat akin to human arms. They also have fingernails which are visible on the outside of the body. They have incredibly short & stubby snouts as well. Remanent bones such as the hyoid bones located near the neck region, are still found in the manatee to this day. These bones are similar to the Adam's apple which is seen in male humans. Researchers have concluded that there is no known use of these bones in the manatee. The manatee has pelvic bones, but they are not attached to its main skeletal frame & are fairly small compared to the rest of the manatee’s skeletal proportions. These pelvic bones are remnants of a time when manatees manatees' ancestors lived on land. The bones are found in a cartilage tissue area of the body in the vicinity of the reproductive organs and the urinary bladder. These bones are soft when the manatee is a juvenile & later harden as they mature, much like knee caps in human juveniles. This is not able to be seen, however, their lungs are approximately 1 meter long, 20 centimeters wide & less than 5 centimeters thick. Their large lungs help them to control their buoyancy. Unlike the majority of mammals, manatees' lungs lay along the spinal cord rather than being inside the ribcage. Manatees do not have external eyelids or eyelashes. Their eye muscles close in a circular motion, akin to an aperture on a camera. Chordata meaning that they developed these 5 characteristics all species under the phylum of Chordata develop 5 similar characteristics either In adulthood or as juveniles. The characteristics that they develop include, a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal Slits, & a post-anal tail. Their class is Mammalia. Mammalia is classified by the production of milk by the mother for their child to nurse, a neocortex which is a region of the brain, some capacity for fur or hair, & three middle ear bones. There are currently 6,400 species categorized under the class of Mammalia. Their order is Sirenia. This is an order that holds the majority of all manatees & dugongs as they are closely related. A defining characteristic of this order is the fact that they are all fully herbivorous & they all grow to be incredibly large. Their family is Trichechidae. All surviving species in this family are classified as manatees. There are several extinct genera classified under this family however they do not count for the purpose of this. There are currently 8 species under this family. Their genus is Trichechus. All species classified under this genus are manatees. This genus holds all surviving species of manatees as of 2024. There are currently 5 species classified under this family at this time, However 1 of those species is questionable as to whether it classifies as its species or not. This species Binomial name is Trichechus Manatus. This species has 2 subspecies known as Trichechus Manatus Manatus & Trichechus Manatus Latriostros.

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The West Indian Manatee Of Terre-de-Bas, Guadeloupe (Trichechus Manatus)

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