It’s Manatee Awareness Month.

I’ve never seen a manatee (or a dugong, the Australian member of the Sirenia order), but I would love to. Sirenia are the only extant herbivorous marine mammals and the only group of herbivorous mammals to have become completely aquatic. These large, slow, gentle creatures are more closely related to elephants than to other marine mammals.

Humans are the main cause of death for manatees—no longer hunting, but still habitat destruction, propellers, flood gates, fishing nets. Additionally, with the warming of the oceans, their behaviour patterns change, food sources are disrupted, and bacteria and parasites spread more quickly. All three species of manatees (West Indian, Amazonian and West African) have been listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since the 1980s. Another gentle giant could well disappear from the planet in our lifetimes.