What do sea cows eat?
sea grasses
Diet. Manatees are herbivores. At sea, they tend to prefer sea grasses. When they live in rivers, they consume freshwater vegetation.
What are the characteristics of Sirenia?
Sirenians have the following morphological characteristics in common: robust body; tough, thick skin with little hair; two nostrils on top or at the front of a thick muzzle; no ear pinnae; no hind limbs; mammary nipples located near the axillae; forelimbs modified into flippers; horizontally flattened tail; and dense.
What type of animals are sirenians?
The Sirenia (/saɪˈriːniə/), commonly referred to as sea-cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters.
What is a sea cow called?
Manatees look a bit like walruses or chunky porpoises and are sometimes referred to as sea cows, but they’re actually much more closely related to elephants.
Why it is called sea cow?
Actually, it is believed that manatees evolved from land animals. However, they are more closely related to elephants than they are cows. Both elephants and manatees evolved from Tethytheria, a group of hooved mammals that were believed to be small and rodent-like.
What is the scientific name of Palawan fossil Sirenia?
Palawan fossil Sirenia. Miocene. Dungongidae. Discovered in Palawan in 2011.
Where are sirenians found?
Family: Trichechidae Antillean manatees are found in the coastal and inland waterways of eastern Mexico, Central America, the Greater Antilles, and along the northern and eastern coasts of South America.
What are the four living species of sirenians?
There are two extant families and four species in Sirenia: Trichechidae (three species of manatees, Trichechus inunguis, T. manatus, and T. senegalensis) and Dugongidae (one species, the dugong, Dugong dugon).
What is Cetacea and Sirenia?
Cetacea is an infraorder comprising of large carnivorous aquatic mammals, while sirenia is an order comprising of small herbivorous aquatic mammals. So, this is the key difference between cetacea and sirenia.