Monday 14 September 2009

Save the Manatee from Extinction

When Cathy and I were trying to come up with our logo it was natural for us to choose animals and by mixing a manatee form with cow attributes we came up with our Molliemoo logo (which we think is very cute!).

For this reason, I want to highlight the Manatee's plight as they are close to extinction. Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammal and their decline is largly down to human activity.

Since record-keeping began in 1974, more than 41% of manatee deaths where caused by humans and almost 34% were due to watercraft collisions (the largest known cause of manatee deaths).

They are beautiful grey aquatic mammals with bodies that taper to a flat, paddle-shaped tail. They have two forelimbs, called flippers, with three to four nails on each flipper. Their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the snout.

My daughter saw a picture of them and told me it was an Elephant (which made me smile) but she was not far wrong as Elephants are a close relative to the Manatee.

Please take a look at the following website which tells you all about their plight and how money is being raised to save them.

Website: Savethemanateeclub

My understanding is that with increased awareness, education, regulations, and enforcement, manatee deaths caused by humans could be substantially reduced and this would lead to the eventual recovery of the Manatees.

I think they are beautiful animals and should be saved from Extinction

Anna

No comments: