But not all the animals who discovered the land stayed there: manatees (d, with babies) and dugongs (e) – together called sirenians, because of their alleged resemblance to mermaids, as perceived by frustrated sailors – returned to the water. ❋ RICHARD DAWKINS (2009)
You can add this to the meandering manatees file (sirenians, anyway). ❋ Unknown (2007)
The other, less numerous and diverse but just as thoroughly aquatic group of marine mammals, the sirenians – dugongs and manatees – are not so well documented in the fossil record, but one outstandingly beautiful ‘missing link’ has recently been discovered. ❋ RICHARD DAWKINS (2009)
The bodies of whales and sirenians abound in historical relics that we notice because they live in a very different environment from their land-dwelling ancestors. ❋ RICHARD DAWKINS (2009)
Just as whales are related to hippos, so sirenians are related to elephants, as a great deal of evidence, including the all-important molecular evidence, attests. ❋ RICHARD DAWKINS (2009)
Many of the sirenians and cetaceans are preserved as virtually complete articulated skeletons which, uniquely, preserve reduced hind limbs, making them intermediate between earlier land mammals and later modern whales. ❋ Unknown (2008)
The oldest is the Gehannam Formation (ca 40-41 million years old) consisting of white marly limestone and gypseous shale and yielding many skeletons of archaic whales (archaeocetes), sirenians (sea cows), shark teeth, turtles, and crocodilians. ❋ Unknown (2008)
It was on the advice of Phil Budd, chairman of the Southampton Natural History Society, that, some weeks ago, I attended a talk on sirenians (manatees and dugongs) at the National Oceanographic Centre. ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
Its fossils were associated with those of sea turtles and sirenians, so it was almost certainly marine. ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
Anthracobunids, a group of herbivorous ungulates probably related to elephants, and sirenians both lived in the same environments as Ambulocetus. ❋ Darren Naish (2006)
Marine mammals in the Florida Keys include cetaceans (dolphins and whales) and sirenians (manatees). ❋ Unknown (2007)
However, some scientists would dispute that sirenians - the manatees and dugongs - are more closely related still, with the hyraxes as a more distant outgroup. ❋ Unknown (2010)
Now there are "walking" representatives of all three marine mammal groups -- whales, sirenians, and pinnipeds! ❋ Unknown (2009)
Sexual dimorphism of males and females is quantified for 105 species of cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, and the sea otter, expressed as male-minus-female length in natural log units ❋ Unknown (2009)
