How many baby West Indian manatees are in a litter?
A West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 334 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 29.62 kg (65.3 lbs) and measure 12.5 cm (0′ 5″). They are a member of the Trichechidae family (genus: Trichechus). An adult West Indian manatee grows up to a size of 3.5 meter (11′ 6″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus) or “sea cow”, also known as North American manatee, is the largest surviving member of the aquatic mammal order Sirenia (which also includes the dugong and the extinct Steller’s sea cow). It is further divided into two subspecies, the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and the Antillean or Caribbean manatee (T. m. manatus), based on genetic and morphological studies. The Florida subspecies is primarily found along the coasts of Florida, but its range extends as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts. The Antillean subspecies has a sparse distribution throughout the Caribbean, ranging as far north as Mexico and as far south as Brazil.Manatees are obligate herbivores, have developed vocal communication abilities, and are covered in highly sensitive vibrissae that are used for feeding and navigation. In breeding season, several males form mating herds around an individual female; on average, one calf is born to a female manatee every two to three years.The West Indian manatee was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in the 1970’s, when there were only several hundred left, and the decades since have witnessed significant efforts by federal, state, private, and nonprofit organizations to protect these species from natural and human-induced threats, particularly collisions with watercraft. On March 30, 2017, the US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the federal reclassification of the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened, citing a substantial increase in the total population.
Other animals of the family Trichechidae
West Indian manatee is a member of the Trichechidae, as are these animals:
- Amazonian manatee with 1 babies per pregnancy
- African manatee with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with West Indian manatee
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- White rhinoceros
- Sloggett’s vlei rat
- Rüppell’s broad-nosed bat
- Three-striped night monkey
- Gee’s golden langur
- Roe deer
- Tailed tailless bat
- Eastern white-eared giant rat
- African brush-tailed porcupine
- Bawean deer
Animals that get as old as a West Indian manatee
Other animals that usually reach the age of 30 years:
- Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth with 27.75 years
- Pacific white-sided dolphin with 25 years
- Cat with 34 years
- Bighorn sheep with 24 years
- South American sea lion with 24.75 years
- American badger with 26 years
- Wolf with 29.5 years
- Brown long-eared bat with 30 years
- Grivet with 31.58 years
- Amazonian manatee with 30 years
Animals with the same weight as a West Indian manatee
What other animals weight around 467.16 kg (1029.91 lbs)?
- African manatee usually reaching 454 kgs (1000.9 lbs)
- Plains zebra usually reaching 400 kgs (881.85 lbs)
- Steller sea lion usually reaching 383.23 kgs (844.88 lbs)
- Amazonian manatee usually reaching 418 kgs (921.53 lbs)
- Moose usually reaching 541.46 kgs (1193.71 lbs)
- Weddell seal usually reaching 400 kgs (881.85 lbs)
- Bactrian camel usually reaching 550.76 kgs (1214.22 lbs)
- Moose usually reaching 471.45 kgs (1039.37 lbs)
- Grévy’s zebra usually reaching 405.5 kgs (893.97 lbs)
- Risso’s dolphin usually reaching 387.25 kgs (853.74 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a West Indian manatee
Also reaching around 3.5 meter (11′ 6″) in size do these animals:
- American bison gets as big as 2.85 meter (9′ 5″)
- Leopard seal gets as big as 3.05 meter (10′ 0″)
- Black rhinoceros gets as big as 2.85 meter (9′ 5″)
- Pygmy beaked whale gets as big as 3.72 meter (12′ 3″)
- African manatee gets as big as 3.5 meter (11′ 6″)
- Northern elephant seal gets as big as 3.72 meter (12′ 3″)
- Walrus gets as big as 2.88 meter (9′ 6″)
- European bison gets as big as 2.9 meter (9′ 7″)
- Northern giraffe gets as big as 4.18 meter (13′ 9″)
- Indian rhinoceros gets as big as 3.74 meter (12′ 4″)