O the sirens of Florida, the graceful behemoths that lie like gray logs just under the surface of the water. We recently examined manatees up close at the Tampa Zoo, where those under repair and rest after injury from boat propellers and other human hazards, chomp down barrels-full of lettuces. They and their gizzard-possessing fish friends, the local leaping mullet, are vegetarians of reknown.
From manatees.net--"Manatees eat over 60 different species of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants. Their diet includes manatee grass, turtle grass, various species of algae, mangrove leaves, and water hyacinths. They may consume 10% of their body weight daily in vegetation. Their digestive system allows the bacterial breakdown of cellulose in the hind-gut. To accommodate the great volume of high-fiber food they eat, manatatees have intestines up to 150 feet long."
Silly of me... That's lettuce, not algae....
Posted by: genevieve | February 06, 2008 at 10:15 AM
From this photo, I need to get to the Tampa Zoo!
Also, must be hungry cuz that algae looked pretty tasty...
Posted by: genevieve | February 06, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Hello Food Museum Blog,
In the last few months, you may remember receiving an email invitation to become a part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program. With all the recipe-writing and food photography to be completed, we know emails can easily get lost in the shuffle, so Foodbuzz would like to re-extend our offer of inviting you to be a part of our food blogger network. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at [email protected].
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Shannon Eliot
Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
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Posted by: Shannon | January 21, 2008 at 03:41 PM
Our guts are more similar to the manatees than to our dogs'.
But I can't really get into algae.
Fortunately, there's spinach.
Posted by: KathyF | January 21, 2008 at 03:32 PM