(1) Imagine what a giraffe, or an elephant, or a manatee looked like to the first Europeans to see them.

(2) Native animals range from the jaguar and howler monkey to the manatee , and there are more than 290 species of birds.

(3) In recent years, a manatee traveled to New York and another swam up the Mississippi River!

(4) He actually adopted a tree in the tropical rainforest and a manatee down in Florida.

(5) While conducting night surveys for crocodiles, Klein sighted three manatees in Laguna Siksa.

(6) Because manatees move freely along the coast, they are ideal indicators of environmental change.

(7) He is hoping to test a prototype device with manatees in the natural environment under highly controlled research conditions.

(8) The death toll was 325, with careless boaters killing 81 of those manatees .

(9) They provide food and shelter for thousands of species, including endangered manatees , dugongs and sea turtles.

(10) This year the two projects will focus on Florida manatees and wild lions in Kenya.

(11) The diet of the captive manatees used in this study consists principally of romaine lettuce.

(12) The gestation period is one full year for manatees , and cows give birth only once every 3 to 5 years.

(13) Monkey River is 45 minutes to the south by boat, through mangrove estuaries that are home to manatees .

(14) Like deer in the headlights of an oncoming car, manatees have poor avoidance strategies when in the path of danger.

(15) But the manatees swam along the shore and the people followed the manatees all of the way down here.

(16) The largest population of manatees is found in Florida, where approximately 2,000 individuals now live.

(17) Some manatees seek shelter here in the Suwannee River, which runs through northern Florida into the Gulf of Mexico.

(18) There are three species of manatees , including the West Indian manatee.

(19) Tell the class that early explorers in Florida thought manatees were either mermaids or monsters.

(20) Such encounters are so common that researchers are often able to identify manatees from their scar patterns.