Manatee Tooth Fossil Replica

$24.00

Manatees are herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Amazon basin, and West Africa.

SKU: M28D Tag:

Description

Manatee Tooth Fossil Replica measures 1.5 inches. Manatee tooth fossil replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Our precise tooth can be used as a teaching tool, museum tooth exhibit, home décor tooth or office décor tooth.

Manatee or Trichechus manatus are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee, the West Indian manatee, and the West African manatee.

Manatee or Trichechus manatus only teeth are called marching molars. Throughout a manatee’s life, the molars are constantly replaced, an adaption to their diet of abrasive vegetation.

Manatees are herbivores. At sea, they tend to prefer sea grasses. When they live in rivers, they consume freshwater vegetation. Manatees also eat algae. According to National Geographic, a Manatee can eat a tenth of its own weight in 24 hours. That can equal up to 130 lb.

Manatee or Trichechus manatus often swim alone or in pairs. They are not territorial, so they have no need for a leader or followers. When manatees are seen in a group, it is either a mating herd or an informal meeting of the species simply sharing a warm area that has a large food supply. A group of manatees is called an aggregation. An aggregation usually never grows larger than about six individuals.

Manatee or Trichechus manatus have four rows of teeth. There are 6 to 8 high-crowned, open-rooted molars located along each side of the upper and lower jaw giving a total of 24 to 32 flat, rough-textured teeth.

Eating gritty vegetation abrades the teeth, particularly the enamel crown; however, research indicates that the enamel structure in manatee molars is weak. To compensate for this, manatee teeth are continually replaced. When anterior molars wear down, they are shed.

Posterior molars erupt at the back of the row and slowly move forward to replace these like enamel crowns on a conveyor belt, similarly to elephants. This process continues throughout the manatee or Trichechus manatus lifetime. The rate at which the teeth migrate forward depends on how quickly the anterior teeth abrade.

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Additional information

Weight 1 lbs
Dimensions 1.5 in
Manatee Facts:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Sirenia
Family: Trichechidae
Genus: Trichechus
Scientific name: manatus brunnich
Conservation status: Near Threatened – A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future.