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Introduction
Manatees are great creatures of the deep. They are mysterious creatures, and very little is known about them, such as their capability of the five senses or who their main predators are. The population of manatees has greatly decreased since their discovery. They have been hunted in the past for their meat and oils. Luckily, there are now laws prohibiting any further hunting of these wondrous animals. In fact, in Florida, manatees have been protected since the 1700's. Unfortunately, though, there is quite a bit of illegal hunting which occurs off the coasts of some countries, and in parts of Central America, it is still legal to poach manatees. The three types of manatees which still exist today are: the Amazonian, the West Indian, and the West African. The manatee's closest relatives are the dugong. Both of these species are classified into the serenia order. There was once another species that belonged to the serenia order called the Steller's cow, but it was hunted into extinction within thirty years of its discovery in the 1940's. The scientific names for the Amazonian, West Indian, and West African manatees are trichechus inunguis, trichechus manatus, and trichechus senegalensis respectively. Manatees have barely been researched even though they have been around for a long time. They have been around so long that there are even beliefs that these creatures evolved from a wading herbivorous animal.
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