Manatees: Ancient marine mammals in a modern coastal environment

Modern manatees have inhabited the coastal waters of Florida for more
than a million years. They have no natural predators, but they were
hunted by paleo-Indians and later by members of the Seminole tribe;
however, they are now facing their greatest challenge – living
alongside modern Floridians, with their boats, development, pollution,
and consumption of natural resources. The majority of Florida’s human
residents inhabit narrow ribbons of land along the state’s 1926 km of
coastline, and the manatees’ occupation of a coastal habitat has placed
them in direct contact with certain human user groups. On the positive
side, the fact that manatees are a coastal species has facilitated
their study in recent decades, but there are still important questions
to be answered about how they are are faring in a rapidly changing
coastal environment.