The West Indian Manatee have always been an interesting animal to me. The first time I saw West Indian Manatee, I was canoeing in Florida. The owners of the canoe rental site referred to them as "water puppies" or "sea cows," which made sense as they swam under and around our canoe, popping in and out of the water. The West Indian Manatee is one of those intriguing equated mammals that are beautiful in their own way and almost seem mysterious.

I have learned that the West Indian Manatee are very harmless animals. As a high trophic level species, these large animals are actually primary herbivorous. According to Manatee data of Everglades National Park, they graze on plants and different types of vegetation up to eight hours a day, and sometimes …show more content…
It is not uncommon for manatee to live in shallow waters, where unfortunately they are exposed to the threat of boats. Boats often cause a physical barrier for manatee in more ways than one. Boats often cause a high risk of death among the shallow water inhabitants due to collisions between the boat and manatee, not to mention the increase in water pollution caused by boats. When I went canoeing in 2010, The owners informed us that the Manatee were endangered at the time and they actually had trackers on the two or three that were there for that reason. The latest update, "in May of 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced the down-listing of the manatee from endangered to threatened" (West Indian Manatee). With the conservative efforts of Florida and other manatee states the down-listing was made possible. However, the fear of a reduction in critical protection for the manatee is brought with this status change. We must realize every time we enter a body of water, we are intruding the homes of species we may not even know exist. In other words, "remember that you are a guest in the homes of the animals you seek" (Animals). This is why it is so important to educate ourselves on our surrounding species and make decisions that are in their best interest also, because in many cases they cannot escape the harm we can potentially