2007-03-15 11:04:52 · 7 answers · asked by zebbie g 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Alright....
Average alligator in my area of Florida is about 7 1/2 feet long... average manatee is 11 to 12 feet long. Even an 11 to 12 foot gator is only going to weigh about half as much as the same sized manatee. So as far as preying on adult manatees goes, no.
But, it's not completely unheard of for those big gators to make a try on a baby manatee, remember, at birth a manatee weighs about 80 pounds, so it does have to be a large alligator. Manatee calfs also don't venture too far from mom, and even though mom doesn't have sharp teeth or anything, she's got about half a ton of weight to throw around, and she will.
The thing with alligators is that they don't want to work too hard for a meal... if there's too much fight to get a meal, the gator's gonna move on to something that isn't going to fight as much.
There's a big difference between boat scars on manatees and alligator scars on manatees, there's plenty of boat scars, but it's -VERY- rare to find alligator scars.
2007-03-15 12:05:49 · answer #1 · answered by gimmenamenow 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, I don't think so, because Manatees are very big animals and alligators small compared to them. So yeah, like the person above me said.
2007-03-15 11:08:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Manatees are way too big for a gator to take down
2007-03-15 11:06:57 · answer #3 · answered by Steve J 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i don't know about manatees and alligators, but there have been reports of crocodiles killing dugongs (the asian version of a manatee) in Australiasia.
2007-03-15 19:00:23 · answer #4 · answered by Future zookeeper 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Manatees have no natural predators.
2007-03-16 14:22:44 · answer #5 · answered by Heather S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
very likely, they look for baby manatees
dont know about adults
2007-03-15 11:38:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would if I was cold-blooded
2007-03-15 11:08:43 · answer #7 · answered by dreamlauros 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋