The American manatee, also known as the West Indian manatee, lives in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, usually inhabits shallow waters and estuaries, and is a slow-moving, scarce species, and is an endangered species on the Red Book of Animal Protection.

During the Chinese New Year last year, a Mexican government delegation brought a herd of small manatees to China, including two adult males, four adult females and four calves.

You know, there are only a few thousand manatees left, and Mexico sent 10 at a time, which was a big deal, which sparked an outcry from animal protection groups in the United States, believing that Mexico had made an unlimited move to curry favor with China.

But the Mexicans also have their own reasons, first, these manatees inhabit their bays, have nothing to do with the Americans, and they don't eat your Americans' bread, and second, they want to trade manatees for pandas.

Americans also like pandas, and many of their cities want to bring in these fluffy stupid brothers, so they shut up when they learned about Lao Mo's purpose, and then they watched to see if Lao Mo could change the panda back.

They were disappointed and did not agree to give the pandas to Laomo, because experts from the Panda Nature Reserve believed that there was no capacity to breed pandas in the area.

Of course, this is all off topic, but in short, China accepted 10 manatees and sent them to the provincial marine animal breeding area in the Red Ocean for breeding.

"Here's the problem, manatees are one of the most powerful herbivorous mammals in the ocean, they eat a lot of water, and they can eat 5% to 10% of their body weight every day, do you know what the average weight of an adult manatee is?" asked Li Ji.

Ao Muyang touched his nose and said, "I don't know, at least six or seven hundred catties, right?"

"A thousand catties!" Li Ji stretched out an index finger, "They can eat up to a hundred catties of aquatic plants and seaweed every day!"

Manatees eat grass fiercely, like rolling a carpet, with their mouths stuck on the bottom of the sea, and then eat them one by one, known as water weeders.

In some areas of the tropics and subtropics, where weeds are prevalent, manatee breeding is useful. In those places, weeds obstruct the power generation of hydropower plants, clog rivers and canals, impede navigation, and bring filariasis, encephalitis and schistosomiasis to humans.

For example, there is a aquatic weed called aquatic hyacinth in Africa, which once spread 1,600 kilometers upstream of the Congo River, and there was a river that was so congested that even small boats could not pass through it, and local residents were forced to leave their homes because food could not be transported.

The local government spent $1 million to solve this social crisis and sprinkled herbicides along the river, and in just two weeks, the aquatic weed doubled again. Later, the local government put two manatees into the river, and this problem was solved.

This shows how much manatees have a demand for aquatic weeds.

Two manatees can solve the problem of aquatic weeds in a channel of the Congo River, and there are ten manatees in the aquarium, and if there is a need, they are ten weeders, and if there is no problem for them to solve, they are ten big stomachs.

In fresh water, manatees feed on aquatic plants such as hyacinths, and in salt water, they eat most of the seagrass and seaweed and are not picky eaters.

Even so, the aquarium was overwhelmed by them, they ate too much, and they all day except for eating, as if they didn't sleep.

The aquarium itself doesn't have aquatic weeds and seaweed, so they have to buy these things, and the aquarium has a limited budget, and can't spend all of it on manatees.

As a result, manatees have become a drag on the breeding area, because of financial problems, the aquarium logistics cannot feed them fresh seaweed and aquatic plants, so they use feed instead.

The problem is that everyone knows what is going on with the feed in China, and there are problems with what people eat, not to mention what animals eat? Manatees eat feed, and then they start to feel bad.

Up to now, three of the ten manatees have died, one adult male manatee and two calf manatees have died, and the other seven have many problems, and Li Ji and other relevant experts have been invited to solve the problems for them.

After finishing speaking, Li Ji began to complain: "The main problem of these manatees is oral problems, oral problems are easy to solve for other animals, but manatees can't, their oral structure is special, they lose teeth all their lives, and every once in a while new teeth grow out and knock out the old, worn teeth." As a result, the problem now comes, the new teeth have to grow out, and the old teeth are not loosened, so that the new teeth can't grow, and they hurt so much all day that they can't eat or drink, how can they live?"

Ao Muyang asked, "Didn't you just say that they were fed for food, and why was it related to their teeth?"

Li Ji sighed: "One meaning, manatees eat grass not only to eat young leaves, but also to eat grass roots. The roots of the grass are very tough, they have to use their teeth to grind, stir, and wear, which is a painstaking process, and the molars of other animals cannot withstand this grinding, and the reason why manatees can withstand it is because they have a lifelong trick of losing teeth, and new teeth continue to emerge to push out the worn old teeth throughout their lives. ”

Listening to his explanation, Ao Muyang understood that manatees eat feed every day, and their teeth wear less, even when it comes to new teeth, they are still very strong, so it is difficult for new teeth to remove old teeth.

"In addition, there are problems with those feeds, there are various additives and hormones in them, and the manatees have problems with their bodies after eating, alas, anyway, there are internal and external troubles, and the problem is not easy to solve. Li Ji said helplessly.

Ao Muyang squatted on the ground and pondered for a while, and said: "Old man, it's actually very easy to solve, you ask the Provincial Aquarium to send manatees to me, do you see how much seaweed we have in the sea? ”

Li Jidao: "I have really thought about this method, but it is not reliable, the first aquarium will not put the gifts sent by foreign friends into the people; second, I am also for the village, although there is a lot of seaweed in this sea, it is a small meaning for seven manatees, and they eat giant algae in their hometown!"

Ao Muyang said: "Giant algae is no problem, I'll just transplant some giant algae." ”

There are really a lot of giant algae in the fishing grounds of Brick Island, and the reason why Ao Muyang has not transplanted them to the sea outside the village is because it is not necessary, and he is worried that the growth of giant algae too fast will lead to a decline in the viewing of the ocean.

After all, the charm of the ocean lies in its vastness and clarity, and it would not be beautiful if a tourist sat on a boat and looked down to see the sea full of dense seaweed.

Li Ji snorted: "It's not that simple, young man. ”

Ao Muyang pestered him and said, "Teacher, you just find a way to get them over, these manatees will die sooner or later if they continue to stay in the aquarium." Besides, we don't belong to the private sea area, don't we have a green turtle sanctuary? This is a national belonging, right? Wouldn't it be nice to put manatees in the sea area of the reserve?"