Manatee Friday

[lea_hazel]

It's follow Friday! How much do I suck at this game? A lot, that's how much.

Here, have a occasionalmanatee_feed. Also, have a video of a manatee yawning.

• The difference between manatees and dugongs? Manatees live in freshwater, dugongs in saltwater. Manatees' tails are rounded, and dugongs' tails are bifurcated.


• The name dugong is originally from Tagalog or Malay, I'm not certain which.


• Manatees are called water-cows in Hebrew (but not sea-cows, thereby emphasizing that they're freshwater dwellers, see above).


• Steller's Sea Cow is a massively sized Sirenian (of the family of the dugong and manatee), that's been extinct for 250 years. :'(


• There is apparently a dugong-ish Pokemon? IDEK.


• They are called Sirenians because it was once believed that dugongs raising their upper body above water to nurse inspired the myth of the mermaid, this although mermaids and sirens are totally distinct and also, not the same. I learned this tidbit from reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.


• Also trufax, whenever this theory is mentioned, someone makes a "lol sailors so drunk" joke. So if you were thinking of making one now, maybe take a pass.

I desperately want to make pomegranate muffins. I'm not sure what else should go in them, though.