African manatees surface for air, they resemble goddesses. Entsua-Mensah explains that the female manatee's breasts create the illusion of a woman-fish. Among the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania, the manatee is regarded as sacred and highly respected, because in the Serer creation myth, it is viewed as the guardian of the secrets of the future. Behavior The African manatee is nocturnal. They tend to travel silently, eat, and be active towards the end of the day and during the nighttime. During the daytime, the African manatee dozes in shallow (1 to 2 meter deep) water. In countries such as Sierra Leone, African manatees migrate upstream when flooding occurs in June and July. This flooding can lower the availability of food for the manatees as well as lower the salinity of waterways. African manatees live in groups of 1 to 6. They have very few natural predators, two of which are sharks and crocodiles. They are also very social, spending a majority of their day bonding by touch, verbal communication, and smell. This creates a deep bond between them. When it is time to migrate due to a weather change, manatees will travel in larger groups to find warmer water and food. Reproduction The gender of an individual African manatee can only be determined by close examination of the manatee's underside. The only visible distinction between males and females is the genital openings. However, males tend to be smaller than females. Some female African manatees are sexually mature as young as 3 years of age, and they give birth every 3 to 5 years of their estimated 30-year lifespan. Males take a longer time to mature (about 9 to 10 years) and can rarely fertilize an egg at the age of 2 or 3 years. African manatees breed year-round. When males and females mate, it is not monogamous; multiple males will usually mate with one female. When the opportunity to mate with a female is at stake, males will fight with each other by pushing and shoving. Female African manatees give birth to one calf at a time after about a 13-month pregnancy. Calves can swim on their own at birth. Although the African manatee's social organization is not well understood, research shows the most common and tightly knit bonds are between a mother and her calf. Threats The African manatee is a vulnerable species because of its