Caicai, the newborn female West African manatee, met the public at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Hengqin on March 30, which was also World Manatee Appreciation Day that falls on the last Wednesday of March.

The mother, Guagua, was only in labor for 80 minutes when she gave birth to Caicai on Jan 17. Since then, Caicai has been gaining 700 grams in weight per day and in good health. The calf now weighs 70 kilograms and is learning independent nursing and swimming with Guagua.  

Caicai, the newborn female West African manatee, swims with her mother Guagua [Photo by Zhu Xi / Zhuhai Daily]

Staff members of Chimelong Ocean Kingdom have been providing nutrient-rich meals to Guagua to make sure that Caicai can be better raised. Normally, the calf starts breastfeeding 17 hours after birth and the lactation period for manatee lasts around 18 months. The calf begins to eat fresh vegetable leaves around 12 days after birth.

Liu Changping of Chimelong Ocean Kingdom noted that it is the fifth such birth of a manatee in the resort and that the breeding success rate is 100 percent. The other four calves were born in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Currently, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom has 13 West African manatees.

There are only three kinds of manatees existing around the world, namely the Amazon, West Indian, and West African manatees. All of them were listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list in 2012.