sea cow

Fifteen million years ago, now-extinct species of dolphins, whales and large sea cows roamed the world’s oceans, topping the underwater food chain.

Manatees are large aquatic mammals commonly known as sea cows.

Earlier this month, Hurricane Idalia similarly stranded a group of manatees inland in Florida, a repeat of what happened after Hurricane Hermine trapped sea cows on flooded golf course ponds in 2016.

Then we ran the model again, but this time with the four-ton sea creature—the Steller’s sea cow—added in.

Dugongs, the chubby marine mammals also known as a sea cows, are listed globally as "vulnerable" even as their plummeting populations in East Africa and New Caledonia were updated to "endangered" in December.