Last week’s metazoan was a walrus, which many people mistook for a manatee. This meant that my inbox was flooded with outraged email from the manatee community, which was deeply offended at the confusion. So, today, here is a portrait of one of the handsomer representatives of the fine warm-water aquatic mammals that were insulted.
As you can plainly see, there is no resemblance at all.
(via National Geographic)
But what about the dugongs? Wont someone think of the dugongs?
Manatees seem to spawn fish. Maybe we should look into that for our beleaguered fishing community.
Well, they are cousins.
Tusks or it didn’t happen.
@#4… Get your /b/ right, It’s Tusks or GTFO.
If they look so similar why are Manatees more ‘cuddly’ than Walruses?… or is it Walrii
Goo goo ga joob.
Oops. Meant to write;
Tusks or GTFO!
Yo walrus! I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish, but manatees are one of the greatest aquatic mammals of all time!
Looks like concept art for Avatar 2 to me.
@Flatland Nautilus – Well, only as much as humans and manatees are cousins.
It’s illegal to touch a manatee in Florida (or at least random people to do so.)
sorta.
Check the current mammalisn phylogeny here. Yer mamantee is in the Sirenia, top dead center in the blue clade. Yer walrus is down on the green/left side, middle of the green zone at about 9 o’clock, labeled Odobenidae.
Oh the huge manatee?
That appears to be a transitional species between manatee and grass.
Manatees are member of the Blue Man Group?
That’s fantastic!
meh.
You’re caving in to complaints of “offense” from the notoriously thin-skinned manatee community?
What’s next? You’re going to abase yourself in grovelling apologies before the likes of Bill Donohue?
For God’s sake, get a grip on yourself, man. You’re a blogger! Your job is to give offense, sir!
Manatees are the puppies of the sea. They too love to have their bellies rubbed.
The manatee has more friends, but the walrus has a better mustache.
Well, it’s pretty unsporting of the walrus to hide its tusks like that! I think it was trying to pass itself off as a manatee.
How long will it take for those piranha to eat the manatee?
The skin treatment that manatee is recieving looks divine.
And hear I was thinking they were just targets for boat props.
#20:
But neither is as awesome as the narwh-
Hey! Who threw that?
A walrus, mistakenly labeled a manatee,
Sometimes, I’ve heard, will resort to profanity.
“So what?”, you ask, “Why make a fuss?”
You’ve never heard a walrus cuss.
“Well, they are cousins. ”
Well SOME people don’t wanna be associated with their crazyyy cousins.
“Well, they are cousins. ”
Well SOME people don’t wanna be associated with their crazyyy cousins.
Ahem.
Walruses (even the tuskless females) are notoriously fierce and angry beasts. Never approach them in the rookery, or they will charge you (10 bucks, I believe). Also, they are faster on land than you might imagine. Even polar bears are afraid to attack male walruses.
Me mum, a teacher out St. Paul, in the Pribilof Islands, assures me they are more angry about being misidentified as a manatee. And I quote: “Manatees are pussies.”
I suspect P.Z. did this more out of respect (fear) of the walruses. As we say in Alaska, there is no retribution like walrus retribution.
OK, which one is the walrus again?
[/sarcasm]
Sorry. I was aiming at Sigmund #14. If you could just give it a lob it in that direction I’d appreciate it….
Cuttlefish, it seems to me
Cares far too little for the manatee
For he doth not protest too much
When ’tis confused with a walruss
The reason, I fear, is plain to see:
Cuttlefish are prejudiced ‘gainst the manatee
But there is a hope I do apprehend:
The rest of us can the manatee befriend.
Even Clairebear did bunk off school
To see the manatee in its pool
And to those of you who understand this
I can only say: thou art part fish.
Yet it takes a true Hero, I see
To truly befriend the manatee…
Oh sure, they don’t look alike because you used a picture of a young, sweet, cuddly manatee. If you had used a picture of a wizened old crabby one, they’d look more alike.
Manatees are the speed bumps of the sea.
BS
“Sorry. I was aiming at Sigmund #14. If you could just give it a lob it in that direction I’d appreciate it….”
My excuse is I’m not feeling so well at the moment as I’m just after watching “The Book of Eli” and I’m still nauseated with the overdose of cheesy faithiness served up in that excuse for a movie.
Oh, so That’s a
MatadorManatee!and how come nobody asked :
“George, is that you ?”
(see Ref: The Walrus – coo coo cachu… Everbody knows the walrus was George. )
now the walrus looks all lonely, why do manatees get all the fun friends?
For some reason when I look at the photo of that super cute manatee, all I can think of is “Aa-aa-all bound for Mu Mu land”.
It’s a real shame, too, because I like Gary Oldman, but the commercial alone puts it in my “not even when it comes out on cable” bin.
The standard spelling is ‘goo goo goo joob’.
hp@#3: It’s illegal to touch a manatee in Florida…
Some years back, at Blue Springs, we watched a manatee molesting a scuba diver who’d just come out of an underwater cavern. Manatee intercepted the guy and kept hugging him with one flipper. He seemed amused at first and then got spooked because she wasn’t letting him surface. Nothing forceful exactly; she just kept outmaneuvering and redirecting him and nuzzling playfully. Think enormous puppy in slo-mo.
When he did surface, manatee still with a flipper on his back, the ranger who’d been watching hollered down to chide him and cited the law. He pulled his mask off and started to sputter in outrage but must’ve seen that the ranger was laughing.
Ranger told the rest of us that this manatee was a regular there and notorious for this behavior, apparently wanting to cuddle. Or something. Rangers kept an eye on her largely for cave-divers’ safety.
Ron Sullivan
http://toad.faultline.org
One of the few reasons to visit Odense, city of Hans Christian Andersen (sorry, we’re mandated by law to introduce it thus, or the tourist police will clobber us). Can’t guarantee that there’s one them calving on every visit, though.
“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings.”
That’s not a manatee – it’s obviously a shaved walrus!
Manatees, manatees,
They never eat a can of peas.
Duh?
Bah, neither of those critters has a kick-ass facial horn. They’re no use defending against being eaten by Cthulhu.
I do love how the female walrus’ oral cavity looks so similar to a vacuum brush attachment!
Asclepias: In that case you would really be impressed by the manatee’s oral cavity when it is feeding.
BS
Poor Sigmund related:
I opted for the “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” instead. I mean, Tom Waits cast as the Devil!? Inspired.
Also it was the movie Heath Ledger was working on when died–too bad, he was very good :(
Christoper Plummer was marverlous and Terry Gilliam’s dark visions and superb animations-it was a fun movie and one I will have to see again…