Golden Fishing Village

American manatees are also called West Indian manatees. They live in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and usually inhabit shallow seas and estuaries. They move slowly and are rare in number. They are an endangered species on the Red Book of Animal Protection.

During the Spring Festival last year, a Mexican government delegation brought a herd of manatees to China, including two adult male manatees, four adult female manatees and four calves.

You know, there are only a few thousand manatees left in existence. Mexico sent ten at a time, which was a big deal. At that time, it triggered strong protests from American animal protection organizations, which believed that Mexico had made unrestricted actions in order to please China.

But Mexico also has its own reasons. First, these manatees live in their bay and have nothing to do with Americans, and they don't eat your American bread. Second, they want to exchange manatees for pandas.

Americans also like pandas. Many cities there want to introduce these stupid furry brothers, so they shut up when they learned about Lao Mo's purpose. Then they waited and watched to see if Lao Mo could exchange the pandas back.

As a result, they were disappointed. China did not agree to send pandas to Lao Mo. The reason was that after on-site inspection, experts from the Panda Nature Reserve believed that the local area did not have the ability to breed pandas.

Of course, this is all beside the point. In short, China accepted ten manatees and sent them to the Hongyang Provincial Marine Animal Breeding Area for breeding.

"Here comes the question. Manatees are one of the most powerful herbivorous mammals in the ocean. They eat a lot of food. They can eat 5% to 10% of their body weight in water plants every day. Do you know the average weight of an adult manatee?" Li Ji asked.

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

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

Manatees eat grass very vigorously, like rolling carpets. They stick their mouths on the bottom of the sea and eat them piece by piece. They are known as underwater weed eaters.

Raising manatees is useful in certain tropical and subtropical areas where aquatic weeds are infested. In those places, aquatic weeds hinder the power generation of hydropower stations, block rivers and canals, hinder navigation, and bring filariasis, encephalitis, and schistosomiasis to humans. Removing aquatic weeds is a headache in the local area.

For example, there is a kind of aquatic hyacinth in Africa. It once spread and grew in a river 1,600 kilometers upstream of the Congo River. It was so blocked that even small boats could not pass. The local residents were forced to leave their homes because they could not transport food.

In order to solve this social crisis, the local government spent US$1 million to spread herbicides along the river. In just two weeks, the aquatic weeds doubled in growth. Later, the local government released two manatees into the river, and the problem was solved.

From this we can see how much demand manatees have for aquatic plants.

Two manatees can solve the overflowing problem of water weeds in a channel of the Congo River, and there are ten manatees in the aquarium. If necessary, they are ten weeders. If there is no problem for them to solve, they are ten big eaters.

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

Even so, the aquarium was overwhelmed by them. They ate so much that they only pooped all day long and seemed not to sleep.

The aquarium itself does not have aquatic plants and seaweed, so they have to buy these things. The aquarium's funds are limited, and all funds cannot be spent on manatees.

As a result, manatees have become a drag on the breeding area. Due to financial problems, the aquarium's logistics cannot feed them fresh seaweed and water plants, so they use feed instead.

Here comes the question. Everyone knows what is going on with China’s feed. There are problems with what people eat, let alone what animals eat. The manatees were eating their feed and then began to feel uneasy.

So far, three of the ten manatees have died, one adult male and two calves. The other seven have many problems, so Li Ji and other relevant experts were invited to solve the problems for them.

After finishing speaking, Li Ji began to complain: "The main problem of these manatees is oral problems. For other animals, oral problems are easy to solve, but not for manatees. Their oral structures are special, and they lose teeth every time throughout their lives. Over a period of time, new teeth will grow out and push out the old, worn-out teeth. As a result, the problem now arises. The new teeth have to grow outwards, and the old teeth are not loose. In this way, the new teeth cannot grow in, and they will be in terrible pain all day long. How can I survive if I can’t eat or drink?”

Ao Muyang asked: "Didn't you just say that the problem was caused by eating feed? Why is it related to their teeth again?"

Li Ji sighed: "One thing is that when manatees eat grass, they not only eat young leaves, they also eat grass roots. Grass roots are very tough, so they have to use their teeth to grind, stir, and grind them. This is an arduous process that the molars of other animals cannot withstand. The reason why manatees can withstand this grinding is that they have a knack for losing teeth throughout their lives. New teeth keep coming out to push out the worn ones. "

Listening to his explanation, Ao Muyang understood that since manatees eat feed every day, their teeth wear less and are still strong even when new teeth come out, making it difficult for new teeth to push out old ones.

"There are also problems with those feeds. There are various additives and hormones in them. Manatees often suffer from physical problems after eating them. Alas, the problem is difficult to solve because of internal and external troubles." 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 can ask the provincial aquarium to send the manatees to me. Look at how much seaweed there is in our sea? Let them eat as much as they want."

Li Ji said: "I have really thought about this method, but it is not reliable. First, the aquarium will not give gifts sent by foreign friends to the public; second, I am also for the village. Although there are a lot of seaweed in this sea, it is a small matter for seven manatees. They eat giant algae in their hometown!"

Ao Muyang said: "Giant algae is no problem. I will transplant some giant algae here."

There are really a lot of giant algae in the Zhuantou Island Fishery. The reason why Ao Muyang has not transplanted them to the sea outside the village is because there is no need, and he is worried that the growth of giant algae too fast and too much will reduce the viewing of the ocean.

After all, the charm of the ocean lies in its vastness and clarity. If tourists sit on the boat and look down to see that the sea is full of dense seaweed, it will not be beautiful.

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

Ao Muyang pestered him and said, "Teacher, just find a way to get them here. These manatees will die sooner or later if they continue to stay in the aquarium. Besides, our waters here don't belong to civilian waters. Don't we have a green turtle protection area? It belongs to the country, right? Then why don't we just put the manatees in the protection area?"