Mermaid is coming! Zhuhai successfully bred rare species West African manatee

On March 30, the World Manatee Day, a newborn baby West African manatee from Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom officially met with tourists. The newborn baby West African manatee looks like an ugly "little mermaid".

Newborn baby manatees.

It is understood that the baby manatee will be born on January 17, 2022, and the mother Guagua of the manatee will complete the delivery in only one hour and 20 minutes. At present, the newborn calf is in good health. Accompanied by his mother, he has begun to feed himself and learn to swim.

In order to ensure that the mother of the manatee can get enough nutrition and feed her baby, the nurse has specially customized a nutritious "monthly meal" for her. Usually, the breast-feeding period of manatees is one and a half years. The young manatees will be breastfed 17 hours after birth, and will eat fresh tender leaves as a complementary food on the 12th day after birth.

It looks like a mermaid.

According to the conservationist, manatees are large aquatic mammals. West African manatees can reach 300-330cm in length and 200-500kg in weight when they grow up. They often appear in the estuarine delta and the shallow calm waters with many aquatic plants in the coastal waters.

Manatees are very smart. According to research, manatees have the ability to retain long-term memory and the potential to learn complex tasks. Their intelligence in visual and sound recognition is comparable to that of dolphins.

Up to now, Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom has successfully bred 5 manatees, and has achieved fruitful results in the breeding of manatees.

As early as May 2018, Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom successfully bred the first West African manatee baby "Bill" in China in an artificial environment; In 2019, female manatee baby "Xiya" and male manatee baby "George" were also born in Chimelong; On December 3, 2020, Chimelong bred the second child of West African manatee in China for the first time - the mother of the manatee who gave birth to "Bill" "Baobao" became pregnant again and successfully gave birth to the second child "Billy".

Baby manatees are very cute.

In fact, the manatee is the mysterious mermaid in the legend. The "mermaid" is called because when a female manatee suckles, she often floats in the sea with her baby in her arms, looking like a beautiful woman with her baby in her arms from afar. The mother and son of manatees are intimate, and they often make various sounds to interact. The mother of manatees is even more affectionate, and often carries the baby manatees to swim and play.

Manatees have few natural enemies in the water, and human activities are the main threat to the survival of manatees. The slow moving and curious manatees often collide with motorboats, and are injured or even killed by propellers; Fish hooks and fish shreds may also block the digestive system of manatees. In addition, manatees are hunted and killed in many sea areas due to their rich fat.

The three existing manatees in the world, namely Amazon manatees, West Indian manatees and West African manatees, were included in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species in 2012.

(The original title "Mermaid" Comes! Zhuhai Successfully Breeds the Rare Species West African Manatee ")