How many babies do manatees have at a time?
Manatees usually have only one baby (called a calf) at a time. Twins are rare but they do happen. How big are manatees? How big are baby manatees compared with adults? The “average” adult manatee is about ten feet (three meters) long and weighs over 1,000 pounds (about 300 kilograms). The “average” calf is about four feet (120 centimeters) long and weighs about 60 pounds (30 kilograms). What is the largest manatee on record? The longest one on record is just over four meters long. The heaviest one weighed 3,500 pounds. How long have manatees been on earth? The ancestors of manatees are about 50 million years old. Why are manatees so friendly? Not all of them are friendly! Some avoid people. In other cases, people feed manatees (which is against the law) and the manatees will then approach people expecting to be fed, so they only appear to be friendly. How do you catch manatees to study them? The best way to catch them is with a big net, which works very well. Manatees cannot be capture
