Animalscaretips
- What animals belong to Sirenia?
- What are the characteristics of Sirenia?
- Is a Dugong a Sirenia?
- Is a manatee a cetacean?
- Which organism is a pinniped?
- Is a walrus a Sirenia?
- Where in the US can you find Sirenia?
- What is Palawan fossil Sirenia?
- Are cetaceans carnivores?
- Does Sirenia have 4 limbs?
- Are dugongs cetaceans?
- Is a manatee a dugong?
- What type of animal is a dugong?
What animals belong to Sirenia?
The Sirenia currently 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.
What are the characteristics of Sirenia?
Sirenians have the following morphological characteristics in common: robust body; tough, thick skin with little hair; two nostrils on top or at the front of a thick muzzle; no ear pinnae; no hind limbs; mammary nipples located near the axillae; forelimbs modified into flippers; horizontally flattened tail; and dense, ...
Is a Dugong a Sirenia?
Dugongs are part of the Sirenia order of placental mammals which comprises modern "sea cows" (manatees as well as dugongs) and their extinct relatives. Sirenia are the only extant herbivorous marine mammals and the only group of herbivorous mammals to have become completely aquatic.
Is a manatee a cetacean?
Dolphins are part of the taxonomic Order Cetacea, which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. It includes about 80 species. ... Manatees, on the other hand, are part of the much smaller Order Sirenia, with just four living species: West Indian Manatee, African Manatee, Amazonian Manatee and Dugong.
Which organism is a pinniped?
Seals, Sea Lions and Walruses
The word "pinniped" means fin- or flipper-footed and refers to the marine mammals that have front and rear flippers. This group includes seals, sea lions and walruses -- animals that live in the ocean but are able to come on land for long periods of time.
Is a walrus a Sirenia?
Overview. Sirenians are one of four extant groups of marine mammals, the others being cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), sea otters, and pinnipeds (walruses, earless seals, and eared seals). ... Sirenia also include Steller's sea cow, extinct since the 18th century, and a number of taxa known only from fossils.
Where in the US can you find Sirenia?
By far, the largest population of West Indian manatees is found in the United States, primarily in Florida. Elsewhere, they are found in small population pockets throughout their range.
What is Palawan fossil Sirenia?
A fossil species of the Sirenia has been found on Palawan and possibly went extinct during the Miocene. Most of the described fossils are only known from their incomplete remains known from the Pleistocene. Many among the fossils collected were collected even without stratigraphic data.
Are cetaceans carnivores?
All cetaceans are carnivores and do not consume plants or algae as food. The large baleen whales eat schooling organisms that range in length from minute drifting mollusks, copepods (1 cm or less), krill (1–5 cm), and small fish and squid up to about 40 cm.
Does Sirenia have 4 limbs?
The order Sirenia was named after the Sirens of Greek mythology, and sirenians are believed to be the basis for the mermaid myth. Modern sirenians have two front limbs in the form of flippers but no hind limbs; even the pelvis is vestigial, and there are no skeletal remnants of leg or foot bones at all.
Are dugongs cetaceans?
Though they resemble cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), dugongs and manatees are believed to be descendants of land mammals that make them more closely related to elephants than whales.
Is a manatee a dugong?
Some people mistakenly think dugongs and manatees are the exact same animal with different names. Though manatees and dugongs have a lot in common, they are different animals with distinct characteristics. Both dugongs and manatees are part of the same taxonomic order, Sirena.
What type of animal is a dugong?
And unlike manatees, which use freshwater areas, the dugong is strictly a marine mammal. Commonly known as "sea cows," dugongs graze peacefully on sea grasses in shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
