Manatees, Crystal River, Florida
© Gregory Sweeney/Getty Image
Snuggling sea cows. Manatee Appreciation Day
Today is Manatee Appreciation Day and, given their sweet and friendly nature, it's hard not to love them. These gentle giants slowly graze through rivers and coastal waters for up to seven hours a day, eating seagrasses and other aquatic plants. They do have teeth, but fear not, they are flat molars used for grinding up vegetation.
Manatees are interested in humans, but their curiosity puts them at risk of collisions with boats. Their numbers dwindled to a few hundred in the 1970s but, thanks to conservation efforts, there are now more than 6,000 manatees in the US. Protecting our vulnerable wildlife is crucial if we want to be able to appreciate them for years to come.
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