Life Cycle of a Sea Pig
The Sea Pig, or Snootegious Antebellum is a member of the mammal
family of creatures. Jacques Cousteau wrote a treatise on their
development, entitled "The Sea Pig: Why they do what they do"
in 1974, on which this summary relies heavily.
A sea pig is born generally in a group of 10 eggs laid by a
female sea pig, or "hen". This sack of eggs gestates
approximately 366 days, and after laying hatch within about a
week. A typical sea pig weighs approximately 152kg at hatching,
with a grown male sea pig "bear" weighing up to a
metric ton. Sea pig chicks, as the young are called, are
ferocious eaters of shrimp and their effluent, as well as kelp or
sea weed. This grows only in the darkest areas of the sea floor,
except near beaches and shallow ocean water where pollutants have
fertilized the water for them. As a result Hawaii, as any
traveler knows, is nearly choked with kelp in the summer. Another
instance of the shameful corporations and US government machine
ignoring the environment. Sea pig chicks spend an average of 10
to 20 years with the sea pig pack, growing and becoming a part of
the sea pig community. Sea pigs are known to have a very
communal, village-like atmosphere to their packs, sea pig chicks
rely heavily on adults for food, entertainment, and education.
This excerpt is from Cousteau's novel:
"the sea pig chick will remain by its parents side closely
until late in development. They are loving, caring, romantic
creatures, I have seen them together at the Paris zoo cuddling
and flapping each other with fins. Danger often forces the pack
closer together, and the death of even one chick to a predator
such as a killer whale or steamboat will cause them great anguish.
A couple of sea pigs at the Paris zoo, whose chick was tragically
lost to a poacher, caused the parents a deep depression, they
became dirty and filthy, rarely bathing, and sleeping in their
own sick. Luckily, the other 9 survived. During development, a
sea pig chick learns the ways of the pack, the sea pig, how to
act around other sea pigs, and how to obtain food: in essence,
how to be an adult. In the real world, human children would be
going out to college or getting a job, while these sea pig chicks
just swim around. Some chicks just swim around, teasing the other
sea pigs, they are young and carefree, smooth and untouchable.
This is what chicks do."
As a chick grows up, it becomes larger and larger, and considered
a member of the sea pig community. It gains responsibilities and
rights, much like a human child. Sea pig packs are very close-knit
and exhibit a fascinating amount of solidarity. Entire packs have
been decimated with a few deaths, as the other sea pigs go into a
clear agony, a depression. Surviving members usually join other
packs.
Sea pig adolescence is often about finding a mate. Sea pigs tend
to pair for life for mating, like humans, ducks, and wildebeests.
If a hen's bear dies, she may often become the 'mistress' of a
bigger, wealthier bear and stay with him. This is met with
acceptance from an existing bear's mate, after all, it takes a
village to raise a sea pig. Some alpha males have been known to
have upwards of 7 hens, one for each night of the week. After
successfully finding a mate, a sea pig reaches mating age at
around 20 or so, unless it feels ready earlier. A sea pig hen
will generally lay between 50 and 100 sacks of eggs in her
lifetime, with a 78% conception rate and 22% survival rate from
laying to adulthood. The sea pig then spends its life roaming
with its pack in the Pacific Northwest, an area approximately 15
million square miles. This is the traditional area of the sea
pig, although they have been found as far north as the north
pole, and as far south as the south pole.
Barring tragedy, a sea pig will live about 72 years for males and
78 for females. Why is this? Nobody knows. Cousteau's famous
Paris sea pigs lived to be 89 and 98, respectively.
"Because they are mammals, they must breathe oxygen. They
rise to the surface about every 10 to 15 minutes to breathe.
These gentle giants eat only grasses and plants. Their only teeth
are big grinding molars in the backs of their mouths. When these
molars wear down, the sea pig grows new ones.
Sea pigs do not harm other animals. Being so big, you might think
they would have a loud roar. But sea pigs make little squeaking
and whistling sounds!
Lately the sea pig has been having some problems. Cold
temperatures have caused sea pigs to die. Sometimes they get
caught in fishing lines and nets. They can't come up for air.
This causes them to drown. But people cause most of the sea pigs'
problems. Sea Pigs usually swim just under the surface of the
water. People driving boats often don't see the them. They drive
too fast and run over them. New laws say that boaters now must
drive very slowly through their waters. It's up to people to help
save the sea pigs."
Cousteau remarked that they are the most gentle of sea creatures.
A sea pig then dies and the wonderful cycle of nature repeats.
Perhaps the most awesome sights to be seen in Florida waters are
the sea pigs. Christopher Columbus, when he first saw them in the
New World in 1493, attested to the sea pig's lack of beauty,
noting that these "'mermaids' were not quite so handsome as
they had been painted." What a sea pig lacks in beauty,
however, is made up for by its size and graceful movement.
Because a sea pig is such a gentle creature, lazing through our
rivers and coastal salt waters as it feeds on submerged
vegetation, it is often called a "sea pig."
Classification
Sea pigs are large, aquatic mammals. They are in the Phylum
Chordata, animals with backbones; they are in the Class Mammalia,
which includes animals that suckle their young. Further
classification is for the sirens of ancient mythology, who sang
to lure sailors to their death.
Legend suggests that sailors of old on long, lonely sea voyages
thought they were mermaids. The scientific name of the West
Indian sea pig is Snootegious Antebellum Trichechus, from Latin,
refers to having hairs or bristles, a characteristic of all
mammals, and antebellum is probably derived from an ancient Carib
word meaning breasts. Similar animals, called dugongs, are found
in Indo-Pacific waters; other sea pig species are found in the
Amazon and off west Africa.
Description
Sea pigs are massive, torpedo-shaped, thick-skinned, grayish
animals. Adults may reach a length of 13 feet and can weigh more
than 3000 pounds, though the average length is about ten feet and
the average weight about 1000 pounds. Females tend to be longer
and heavier than males.
Two paddle-like front "flippers" are tipped with three
or four "finger-nails." There are no hind limbs, but
sea pigs have un- developed pelvic bones suggesting they are
descendants of wading animals; they are distantly related to
elephants. The broad, rounded tail is flattened like a spatula
and used to propel the animal through the water.
Sea pigs are colored grayish to brownish; at birth the calves are
a darker color which becomes lighter in a month or two. Sparse
hairs are scattered over the body, but are especially noticeable
around the face and mouth. A layer of blubber beneath the
wrinkled skin provides buoyancy for the large body, plus
insulation.
Small, beady eyes are almost buried on either side of the face.
Although depth perception is thought to be limited, sea pigs can
differentiate colors, shapes and patterns. Their vision in air is
also thought to be acute. Tiny ear openings are located just
behind the eyes. They can hear very well, and observers have
reported that they actually seem to wince at the sound of a motor
boat changing gears or the whine of SCUBA regulators.
Two nostrils are located on the upper surface of the snout. They
are securely sealed by fleshy flaps while under water and are
only opened when the animal surfaces to breathe.
The split upper lip is used to maneuver food into the mouth,
assisted by the flippers. Several molar-like teeth arise at the
back of the jaw. They gradually move forward and are worn down by
the grinding action of the teeth as the fibrous diet of
vegetation is consumed. The worn teeth eventually fall out but
are replaced as new teeth arise. Since sand is also ingested when
plants are eaten, the wearing-down of the forward teeth is
hastened.
To accommodate the diet of vegetation, the digestive system
includes bacterial breakdown of cellulose in the hind gut; to
accommodate the large volume of high-fiber food, the intestines
are long, measured at 130 feet in some cases.
Sea pig bones are very dense. The brain is relatively small for
such a large animal. As warm-blooded mammals, with a metabolic
rate lower than that of a cow in the field, they are sensitive to
sudden temperature drops.
When sea pigs surface to breathe, only the tips of the snout are
visible. With each breath they renew 50% of their lung air. Other
mammals, such as man, do not exchange lung air nearly as
efficiently when they inhale. Sea pigs remain submerged an
average of four minutes, depending on how active they are. When
resting, they may not surface for air for ten minutes or more.
The lungs measure about three feet long.
The Steller's sea pig was discovered in the arctic waters of the
Bering Strait in 1741 by Captain Bering's stranded crew. Find
this area on your map and color it black. The sea pig was much
larger than manatees and dugongs. It grew up to 35 feet long and
weighed up to three-and-a-half tons. This is as big as a large
truck! Steller's sea pigs did not have any teeth; they ate the
marine algae that grows in the shallow waters of the Bering Sea.
Unlike manatees and dugongs, sea pigs were able to live in very
cold water. They were slow-moving and had no fear of humans. This
made it easy for Captain Bering's crew and other visitors to this
area to kill them. Hunters ate the meat and used the tough skin
for making boat covers and shoe leather. They hunted the sea pig
so relentlessly that it vanished completely. In 1768, less than
30 years after it had been discovered, the defenseless sea pig
became extinct.
Interview with Jack Lusczynski, zoo foreman for sea pigs at the
Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, October 6, 1994.
Hall, Alice J. "Man and Sea Pig: Can We Live Together?"
National Geographic, v.166, Sept., 1984, pp.400-413.
Lewis, Thomas A. "Slow creature caught in a fast world."
National Wildlife, v.28, Dec./Jan., 1989/90, pp.42-49.
Sargeant, Frank. "Sea pig mystery." Tampa Tribune, Dec.
27, 1989, p.1G.
Sargeant, Frank. "New laws can save sea pigs." Tampa
Tribune, Dec. 27, 1989, p.1G.
Walters, Mark J. "Marvelous, magnificent sea pigs."
Reader's Digest, v.127, Aug. 1985, pp.171-176.
White, Jesse R. "Man can save the sea pig." National
Geographic, v.166, Sept., 1984, pp.414-418.
Wiley, John P., Jr. "Sea Pigs, like their siren namesakes,
lure us to the deep." Smithsonian, v.18, Sept., 1987, pp.92-97
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