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Topic: Sirenians

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	Manatee Brain
		Paleontological evidence as well as recent biochemical evidence, reveal that Sirenians, together with the Proboscideans (elephants), Hyracoidea (hyraxes) and Tubulidentata (aardvarks) represent four living orders of mammals that are sometimes lumped together as "subungulates", which derived from a primitive ungulate ancestral stock.
		The sirenians reached a peak of diversity during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs (55 mya).
		Sirenians were most diverse in the Miocene (5-25 mya) when tropical conditions were widespread.
	www.manateebrain.org /07evolution (1106 words)

	Diets, habitat preferences, and niche differentiation of Cenozoic sirenians from Florida: evidence from stable isotopes ...
		Thereafter during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, sirenians are represented in Florida by abundant remains of fossil manatees (Trichechus sp.).
		Stable isotopic analyses were performed on 100 teeth of fossil sirenians and extant Trichechus manatus from Florida in order to reconstruct diets (as determined from [delta]^sup 13^C values) and habitat preferences (as determined from [delta]^sup 18^O values) and test previous hypotheses based on morphological characters and associated floral and faunal remains.
		One of the two modern sirenian families, the Dugongidae, with an extant monotypic genus of hypergrazer, the dugong (Dugong augon), is widely distributed in coastal marine waters throughout the subtropical and tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans (Walker 1975; Husar 1978a).
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_qa4067/is_200404/ai_n9400768 (1052 words)

	Gale Schools - Environment - Endangered Species - Manatee (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Another adaptation to their aquatic environment is the sirenians' ability to replace 90 percent of the air in their lungs in one breath, thus enabling them to remain submerged for up to fifteen to twenty minutes at a time.
		Sirenians are unusual, as well, in their ability to rise vertically to the surface and sink back down again, like a helicopter or an elevator.
		It was always known that sirenians have thick, ridged pads instead of front teeth and that the ridges help to break vegetation into small pieces that are then pushed to the back of the mouth where the chewing molars are located.
	www.galeschools.com /environment/endangered/manatee.htm (2309 words)

	What are Sirenians?
		In the case of manatees and dugongs, we are concerned with the threat of extinction from over-harvesting and destruction of habitat.
		The three extant manatees, the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis), and the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), are found in the rivers and coastal areas of the Atlantic Ocean basin; the one extant dugong (Dugong dugon) is found in the coastal marine areas of the Indian and Pacific Ocean basins.
		The giant sirenian was discovered and described by Georg Wilhelm Steller (hence their name Steller’s sea cow) in 1741 during a voyage with Captain Vitus Bering in the North Pacific.
	www.sirenian.org /sirenians.html (2622 words)

	sirenian - HighBeam Encyclopedia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Living sirenians are the dugong and the manatee, both found in warm, shallow waters in sheltered regions, where they feed on seaweeds and sea grasses.
		Sirenians are the only marine mammals, outside of the whale order, that spend their entire lives in the water, and they are the only marine mammals that feed exclusively on vegetation.
		The living sirenians are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Sirenia, families Trichechidae and Dugongidae.
	www.encyclopedia.com /doc/1E1-sirenian.html (632 words)

	Sirenians of the World
		Sirenians are the only completely aquatic mammals that are herbivores.
		Because of their herbivorous nature, all sirenians are found in relatively shallow waters where sunlight can penetrate and stimulate plant growth.
		The largest sirenian on record, the Steller's sea cow grew up to nine meters (30 feet) in length and weighed around four metric tons (approximately 4.4 tons).
	www.savethemanatee.org /sirenian.htm (452 words)

	Sirenia
		Sirenians are a group of ungulates highly adapted for aquatic life.
		The docile and mild sirenians are now endangered, being hunted for their meat and fat deposits producing oil.
		The Museum houses three specimens of sirenians, namely a skull and a skeleton of a dugong (Dugong dugong) and a plaster cast of the skull of a Steller's sea cow (Hidrodamalis gigas).
	www.musei.unina.it /Zoologia/eng/4.2.2.6.6.5.htm (427 words)

	ADW: Sirenia: Information
		Sirenians are members of the group known as subungulates, thought to be distantly related to hyraxes, elephants, and perhaps, artiodactyls and perissodactyls.
		The remaining sirenians, manatees and dugongs, are seriously threatened by hunting, habitat degradation, and in the case of manatees, collisions with boats in the shallow coastal areas they prefer.
		Sirenians are vegetarians, feeding on a variety of marine algae and higher plants.
	animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu /site/accounts/information/Sirenia.html (525 words)

	Introduction to the Sirenia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Sirenians are slow and passive mammals of tropical and sub-tropical waters.
		The first Sirenians appeared in the early Eocene in Europe, but by the close of this epoch, they had spread to tropical Asia and North America.
		Sirenians are solitary creatures, who come together only to mate, or when favorable local conditions attract individuals for a short time.
	www.ucmp.berkeley.edu /mammal/mesaxonia/sirenia.html (274 words)

	Xavier University: Midwestern Manatee Research Project: Classification and Sirenians
		In fact, sirenians are the only marine mammals that spend their entire life in the water – with exception of cetacens.
		Sirenians are sizeable creatures with large, flat, rounded tails comparable to a paddle used in propulsion and flipper-like forelimbs utilized as they maneuver through the water at about three to five miles per hour.
		Finally, the dugong is defined by its notched tail and by the presence of tusks in the gums of the male.
	www.xu.edu /manateeresearch/classification.cfm (307 words)

	MANATEES - Scientific Classification
		The fossil record of sirenians is incomplete, and the relationship between manatees and their ancestors is poorly known.
		Sirenian fossil records are incomplete and continue to be an area of study.
		Studies using biochemical analysis of proteins show that the closest modern relatives of sirenians are elephants, aardvarks, and small mammals known as hyraxes.
	www.seaworld.org /animal-info/info-books/manatee/scientific-classification.htm (362 words)

	Evolution of sirenians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Sirenians, along with their closest living relatives the Proboscidea (elephants), group together with the extinct Desmostylia and likely the extinct Embrithopoda to form the Tethytheria.
		The first appearance of sirenians in the fossil record was during the early Eocene, and by the late Eocene, sirenians had significantly diversified.
		By the time the Eocene drew to a close, came the appearance of the Dugongidae; sirenians had acquired their familiar fully-aquatic streamlined body with flipper-like front legs with no hind limbs, powerful tail with horizontal caudal fin, with up and down movements which move them through the water, like cetaceans.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Evolution_of_sirenians (688 words)

	InfoHub - Paleontology of Sirenia
		Sirenians, as well as the seagrasses (their primary food item) probably originated in the Tethys Sea area, the ancient sea that separated Gondwanaland from Laurasia.
		Family Prorastomidae Cope, 1889 (Middle Eocene): Oldest fossil records of sirenians, the taxonomic family of prorastomids, were amphibious quadropeds that resembled Paleocene and Eocene condylarths, but had aquatic specializations such as retracted nasal openings, and absence of paranasal air sinuses, and dense and swollen ribs.
		Sirenians were much more widely dispersed during the Eocene than they are today.
	www.infohub.com /forums/printthread.php?t=4884 (908 words)

	insvircz
		A teratological anomaly, fortunately very rare, called symely, may have taken a part in the genesis of the mythe of the mermaid : il is a fusion of the lower limbs, giving birth to a human being with a kind of fish tail (figure 3).
		In the sirenians, the vulva indeed opens ventrally and the breasts are in a pectoral position (just like in a woman) ; the tail is flattened in the horizontal plan, like in cetaceans, but it can suggest the tail of a fish.
		An animal with pectoral breasts is the condition sine qua non to be the base of the mythical and erotic divagations mythiques of the myth of the mermaid.
	perso.orange.fr /cryptozoo/fabuleux/mermaid.htm (513 words)

	Sirenia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Sirenians are first known from Eocene deposits in Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean.
		These ungainly sea mammals are believed to be the source of the mermaid legend, although delirium from being out at sea too long probably had more influence on sailors' reports than a true resemblance.
		These large sirenians inhabited the northern Pacific Ocean and appear to be the only sea cow adapted to cold waters (all extant species are tropical in their ranges).
	www.ultimateungulate.com /Sirenia.html (612 words)

	Origin of Sirenians (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Such diet in sirenians living around the North Sea seems of little surprise considering modern dugongs and manatee near the climatic extremes of their ranges are known to consume invertebrates in addition to plants.
		Sirenians are relatively large herbivorous mammals that inhabit warm, near-shore, marine waters today.
		Eocene sirenians have a reasonably well documented evolutionary history, and are known from all continents except Australia and Antarctica.
	www.edwardtbabinski.us /manatee/sirenians.html (2573 words)

	Dugongs & Manatees. In: Marine Biodiversity - An Introduction. Author: Peter Dyrynda (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Sirenians with tusk-like incisor teeth, a coat of short hair and a fluked tail.
		This large sirenian lived in coastal waters around the Aleutian Islands, the archipelago that divides the Berings Sea from the North Pacific Ocean.
		All three living species of sirenian are classified by the IUCN as being threatened with extinction.
	www.solaster-mb.org /mb/manatees.htm (510 words)

	Sirenia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Sirenians, including manatees and the Dugong, have major aquatic adaptations: forelimbs have modified into arms used for steering, the tail has modified into a paddle used for propulsion, hindlimbs (legs) are but two small remnant bones floating deep in the muscle.
		Unlike the other marine mammals (dolphins, whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters, and walruses), sirenians only eat seagrasses and other aquatic vegetation.
		Unlike other marine mammals, sirenians have an extremely low metabolism and zero tolerance for cold water.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Sirenian (376 words)

	endangered animals - reports (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		There are four species of sirenians that are either endangered or significantly threatened by humans and their activites.
		Sirenians are large animals weighing as much as 1,544 lb (700 kg) with a body length of up to 14.8 ft (4.5 m) and a large hard with a small mouth.
		The upper lips of the manatees is deeply cleft, and male dugongs have a pair of incisor teeth sirenians eat a wide range of marine plants such as turtle grasses, sea grasses kelps, and other large species of algae.
	www.tenan.vuurwerk.nl /reports/pineridge/manateejosette.htm (309 words)

	Dugong - The Manatee
		The sirenians are among the most aquatically adapted of all mammals, unable to move on land, having no hind limbs.
		The presence of Trichechus species of Manatee along the eastern and western shores of the Atlantic and their avoidance of the open sea have been cited as evidence of a continuous coastline between Africa and America.
		Sirenians are the only animals on earth exhibiting "classical pachiostosis", meaning that all their bones are hard and dense, like ivory; they are also the only existing large aquatic herbivores.
	www.mayaparadise.com /dugonge.htm (2514 words)

	Metaxytherium medium (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The Sirenians are marine mammals of great dimensions, reaching up to 7 metres in length and weighing about 4000 kg.(Rhytina gigas).
		The Sirenians are today represented by two Families: the Lamantins and the Dugongs.
		Rhytina gigas, whose size borders on 8 metres with an estimated weight of 4000 kg, at one time lived in the vicinity of the island of Commodore, but was exterminated by hunters.
	www.musei.unina.it /Paleontologia/eng/3.2.5.24.htm (282 words)

	Nutrition and Nutritional Diseases - The Merck Veterinary Manual
		Sirenians thrive on a diet of hydroponic grass and various lettuces and vegetables, supplemented with high-protein monkey chow, carrots, bananas, and multivitamin-mineral supplements used particularly to balance calcium/phosphorus ratios.
		It is thought that sirenians ingest considerable animal protein incidentally during grazing in the wild.
		Sirenians are generally fed several times a day to accommodate their grazing feeding pattern.
	www.merckvetmanual.com /mvm/htm/bc/170806.htm (1431 words)

	Manatees, Belize Animals, Caribbean Critters
		Sirenians include four living species: the West Indian manatee, the West African manatee, the Amazonian manatee, and the dugong.
		Modern relatives of Sirenians are elephants, aardvarks, and hyraxes, which are small rodent-like mammals.
		Four-legged land mammals that returned to the sea, the sirenians shed their hind legs but retained vestigial pelvic bones and, in two manatee species, nails on their flippers.
	www.ambergriscaye.com /critters/manatee.html (5302 words)

	Geotimes - December 2001 - Sea Cow
		A recent report of fossils in Jamaica describes a composite skeleton that closes this evolutionary gap between the sea cows that inspired mermaid legend, also called sirenians, and their land-roving ancestors.
		Portell discovered sirenian ribs protruding from a siltstone and sandstone matrix while reconnoitering around Jamaica for invertebrates in 1990.
		The only other species of sirenian perhaps older than this one is Prorastomus sirenoides, but only its skull and a single vertebra were found and that was 135 years ago.
	www.agiweb.org /geotimes/dec01/NNseacow.html (826 words)

	Manatee Background Information
		It is thought that Sirenians evolved from four-footed land mammals about 45-50 million years ago.
		Modern relatives of Sirenians are elephants, aardvarks, and hyraxes—small rodent-like mammals.
		The name Sirenian comes from a word in ancient mythology known as "siren".
	www.virtualexplorers.org /belize/belize_bkgd.htm (1334 words)

	AAT/H Leaflet List Annotated
		We're talking seals, sirenians (dugongs and manatees), and whales here; they are the mammals the list refers to in each of its categories (although even then the similarities aren't real).
		Seals have been aquatic for about 25 million years or so; sirenians and whales for perhaps 50; all are so specialized they are incapable of living a natural life which isn't aquatic (especially sirenians and whales).
		And among aquatic mammals only cetaceans, sirenians, and the semi-aquatic hippopotamus; all are either very large sized and/or high-speed swimmers with highly specialized skin and which have been very specialized aquatic mammals for several tens of millions of years.
	www.aquaticape.org /leaflist.html (867 words)

	Sea cows and sea grasses - October 2002 meeting of ACS Monterey Bay
		This association has been presumed to extend into the past, and occurrences of sirenian remains in deposits have been interpreted as evidence of the presence of seagrasses in ancient marine ecosystems, thus helping scientists get a better picture of marine life at that time.
		The diet of sirenians is reflected in the composition of the tooth enamel.
		By checking the carbon isotopes within the teeth of both modern and early sirenians it is possible to determine which aquatic vegetation types were consumed, as different plants carry different levels of this isotope.
	www.starrsites.com /acsmb/meetings/mtg0210.htm (247 words)

	Manatees: Scientific Classification
		The living sirenians consists of one species of dugong and three species of manatee.
		The fossil record of sirenians is incomplete, and the relationships between manatees and their ancestors are still poorly known.
		Even though the oldest known sirenian fossils were found in Jamaica, it's likely that sirenians originated in Eurasia or Africa.
	www.seaworld.org /infobooks/Manatee/sciclassman.html (242 words)

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