Manatees

Manatees. Written by Kira Fried.

海牛。 作者：基拉·弗里德。

Introduction. Many years ago, sailors told stories about mermaids or sea sirens. They were beautiful creatures that were half woman and half fish. They sang to sailors to lure them onto dangerous rocks. There, the sailors would get shipwrecked.

引言。 很久很久以前，水手们会讲美人鱼或者海妖的故事。 它们是半人半鱼的美丽生物。 它们给水手唱歌，把他们引到危险的礁石上。 水手们会在那里遭遇船难。

When Columbus sailed to the New World, he saw manatees and thought they were mermaids. Nowadays, it is hard to believe anyone could confuse a manatee with a mermaid. Manatees have a gentle, sweet appearance, but they are not nearly as beautiful as mermaids. In fact, they are kind of funny -looking.

哥伦布航行到新大陆时，看到海牛还以为它们是美人鱼。 放到现在，很难相信会有人把海牛错认成美人鱼。 海牛模样温顺讨喜，但远没有美人鱼那么漂亮。 事实上，它们长得还有点憨趣。

Description. Manatees are marine mammals. They belong to a group of mammals called Cyrenia. This name comes from the old belief that manatees were sea sirens. They are sometimes called sea cows because, like cows, they graze on plants for many hours at a time. And, like cows, they eat huge amounts of plant food.

外形介绍。 海牛是海洋哺乳动物。 它们属于一类叫作锡雷尼亚的哺乳动物。 这个名字来源于过去人们认为海牛就是海妖的说法。 它们有时被称为海牛，因为和牛一样，一次能连续啃食植物好几个小时。 而且和牛一样，它们会吃下大量植物。

Manatees are shaped like very chubby dolphins. They have a paddle -shaped tail that helps them move through the water. Large front flippers help them to steer. They have pudgy wrinkled faces that look a little like the face of a Chinese Shar -Pei dog or a walrus. They have heavy solid bones. Scientists believe their heavy bones keep them from floating too high in the water.

海牛的体型就像圆滚滚的海豚。 它们长着桨状的尾巴，帮助自己在水里游动。 宽大的前鳍帮它们把控方向。 它们的脸胖胖皱皱的，有点像中国沙皮狗或者海象的脸。 它们的骨头又重又结实。 科学家认为，厚重的骨头能避免它们在水里浮得太高。

Manatees are not close relatives of whales, dolphins, or walruses, even though all of these are marine mammals. They are also not closely related to cows. The closest well -known living relative of the manatee is the elephant.

尽管鲸鱼、海豚、海象都是海洋哺乳动物，海牛和它们都不是近亲。 海牛和牛也没有很近的亲缘关系。 现存和海牛亲缘关系最近的知名动物是大象。