The Florida manatee has fooled us all for ages. We thought it was as slow to cogitate as its “sweet potato” body is to move. Never did the clever "sea cow" let on that it's actually as brainy as, or perhaps even brainier than, a somersaulting dolphin. But now its lethargic disguise has been penetrated, thanks to the researches of a neuroscientist at the University of Florida.



Roger L. Reep, who, along with a small group of other researchers, has discovered that trichechus manatus latirostris is not the slow learner it has forever pretended to be. In fact, while manatees are definitely slower moving than dolphins, they're just as quick at learning tasks. Only they're harder to motivate, because they won't leap for fish.

They're herbivores and, apparently, they don't even speed up when a researcher waves a seaweed temptingly in their direction.

The researchers concluded, however, that under that hulking exterior coasts a subtle mammal that is perfectly adapted to its environment.

The clever paddlers have the lowest brain-to-body size ratio of any mammal and the surface of their brains is smooth. But Reep believes, instead of a brain that's too small for its body, the tricky sea creature may have a body that's big for its brain. Why? To help it stay warm and have enough of a digestive system to nourish itself on the low-protein and low-cal sea greenery it grazes on for its survival.

Reep also thinks that the thickness of manatee's cerebrum, which contains multi-layers, may account for how the tricky mammal can disguise its brain power under a smooth exterior.

And Dr. Reep and his colleagues have discovered that manatees may be able to hear low-frequency sounds, with vibrations as low as 23 to 1,000 hertz. That ability would be unique among mammals and it may explain how the lumbering giants can navigate back to their favorite patches of seaweed every year, along with how they manage to keep track fellow manatees even in cloudy water.

Reflecting on their intelligence in comparison to dolphins, one of the researchers even dared to say, “They're too smart to jump through hoops the way those dumb dolphins do.”