Product Description
The Sirenia, 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. The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae (the dugong and the now extinct Steller's sea cow) and Trichechidae (manatees, namely the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee) with a total of four species. The Protosirenidae (Eocene sirenians) and Prorastomidae (terrestrial sirenians) families are extinct. Sirenians are classified in the clade Paenungulata, alongside the elephants and the hyraxes, and evolved in the Eocene 50 million years ago The Dugongidae diverged from the Trichechidae in the late Eocene or early Oligocene (30–35 mya).ns grow to between 2.5 and 4 meters (8.2 and 13.1 feet) in length and 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) in weight. The recently extinct Steller's sea cow was the largest known sirenian to have lived, reaching lengths of 10 meters (33 feet) and weights of 5 to 10 tonnes (5.5 to 11.0 short tons).
Sirenians have a large, fusiform body to reduce drag through the water and heavy bones that act as ballast to counteract the buoyancy of their blubber. They have a thin layer of blubber and consequently are sensitive to temperature fluctuations, which cause migrations when water temperatures dip too low. Sirenians are slow-moving, typically coasting at 8 kilometers per hour (5.0 miles per hour), but they can reach 24 kilometers per hour (15 miles per hour) in short bursts. They use their strong lips to pull out seagrasses, consuming 10–15% of their body weight per day.
Sirenia, commonly sirenians, are also referred to by the common name sirens, deriving from the sirens of Greek mythology. This name derives from a legend about their discovery involving lonely sailors mistaking them for mermaids.
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