Domesticated... Manatees?

Hi there all. Long time on-again, off-again lurker, first time poster... And I have a bit of an odd one for my first timeline idea. It was inspired by a single, one-off concept introduced in DValdron's Lands of Ice and Mice, which led me to thinking about the possibility of domesticating sea life, and it made me think of one species that might potentially work...

The basic idea is that, around 0 CE, a small group of natives boating across the Caribbean exploring the Greater Antilles gets shipwrecked in the Everglades. In OTL, they either die or land somewhere else. Here, though, they decide to try and make a go of living there...

According to the myths of the Taino people who first encountered Europeans, among thus tribe, there was a young man who was born sickly, and thus wasn't as good at hunting or fishing as his peers. He thus went out among the mangroves a lot, until he came upon a sacred pool containing manatees. Rather than kill them as the tribe typically would, he spent time just observing them, finally working up the courage to swim among them. The docile creatures were unafraid, affectionately nuzzling him. He went there a second time, swimming for hours, scratching their bellies, and telling his troubles to these nonjudgmental creatures. He came back a third time, and as he was about to leave, the manatees stopped him. The largest manatee turned into a beautiful woman, the goddess of the water, known to the Taino as Atabey. She was impressed by the boy's curiosity and gentleness and moved by his unlucky situation. She gave him the name history remembers him by, Bomanati (Technically Bo'manati, meaning Great Lord of the Manatees) and chose to teach him the ways of these beasts. Bomanati did so in secret for the longest time, until one day, tragedy struck. The wife of the tribe's cacique (chief) died of a snakebite. The chief's infant son was too young to eat solid food, and no other women in the tribe were breastfeeding. It seemed like the child would die until Bomanati intervened, calling forth a mother manatee and her calf appeared at the waters near the village. Bomanati took the baby boy and held it to the manatee's breast, who let it suckle as if it were her own calf. Bomanati and his companion helped care for the baby until he could eat solid foods, and the cacique was so grateful that he declared that Bomanati was a powerful bohique (medicine man) and that their tribe would protect the manatees from this day forward, and, in return, the manatees would provide them with food and leather.

While obviously a myth, it's entirely possible that there really was an outcast young man among the tribe (or maybe a woman with some common sense about these creatures filling the role of Atabey and guiding a hapless bohique) who managed to convince his peers that raising manatees for food rather than just hunting them was a worthwhile endeavor. Whatever the cause, ATL archaeology does show that the first manatee herders came from the swamp that we of OTL call the Everglades. The area is, as we know, swampy, miserable, not very good for agriculture, and in general, not a good place for humans to live. Stuck here, they might experiment with domestication. Manatees are docile and nonviolent, large, with a vegetarian diet that don't, and largely can't, consume themselves. And, if you're living in a marshy environment to begin with, the fact that they're aquatic isn't necessarily a deal breaker. Then there's milk. Amerindian peoples are lactose intolerant, but lactose tolerance has an insanely high selection differential in human populations, not to mention that in a tropical environment, manatee milk would easily become manatee yogurt or cheese quickly. And even so, as the myth said, a lactating manatee might help stop infant mortality.

Over time, the herders would select manatees that were larger, more docile (if that's even possible), more gregarious, and, likely, those with faster breeding cycles. From this semi-domesticated form, manatee herding would spread to island and coastal tribes across the Caribbean Sea, changing the history of the area...

I have some ideas for how this might effect history of those places, as well as the challenges and benefits that manatee physiology might have to domestication. But I'm gonna leave this here for now.

P.S. - I'm trying to come up with a name for this timeline. So far, I have "Lands of Salt and Sargassum" (in the great LORAG tradition) and "Milking the Sea Cow"
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Points for inventiveness...

Points for inventiveness...

Now, can they be armored and can warriors ride them - swimingly - into battle?;)

Best,
 
It all boils down to how fast they can breed. Eventually people can just get impatient.

It's possible you can keep them for ceremonial purposes as a sort of sacred/holy animal, and kill some occasionally as a sacrifice, the meat of which being highly valued as a sacrificial food. You could do the same with manatee milk. Eventually if you do get them to reproduce faster they could be seen in more common uses.

Manatees are too small and too slow to be used as a beast of burden of any kind. You already have artificial seagoing vehicles, and those will be much more effective at transporting loads.
 
It all boils down to how fast they can breed. Eventually people can just get impatient.

It's possible you can keep them for ceremonial purposes as a sort of sacred/holy animal, and kill some occasionally as a sacrifice, the meat of which being highly valued as a sacrificial food. You could do the same with manatee milk. Eventually if you do get them to reproduce faster they could be seen in more common uses.

Female manatees typically reproduce at 3-5 years of age, males at 5-7. Gestation lasts a year. Not as quick as cows, but comparable to camels, and at the lower limits of maturity, about the level of horses. Essentially, not the fastest breeder, but it could work

Manatees are too small and too slow to be used as a beast of burden of any kind. You already have artificial seagoing vehicles, and those will be much more effective at transporting loads.

A major downside of manatees is the lack of use as a beast of burden. It's just impossible. They aren't quick, they aren't strong, and even if they were, putting a plow on them is just silly. And, sorry, but a manatee cavalry would go nowhere fast.

However, I had thought of one advantage over most livestock in one specific form... transport across the sea. Space and weight are crucial to seafaring voyages. Usually, bringing a 10 foot long, 1,000 pound animal from one island to another takes up space, space you could use to fit trade goods or other rowers. But a manatee? Some enterprising individual could potentially use ropes or nets to harness a manatee to the side of a boat. This makes it much easier to transport the creatures across water.

(Was going to do a larger post, but honestly it'd be better to dole these thoughts out in chunks)
 
However, I had thought of one advantage over most livestock in one specific form... transport across the sea. Space and weight are crucial to seafaring voyages. Usually, bringing a 10 foot long, 1,000 pound animal from one island to another takes up space, space you could use to fit trade goods or other rowers. But a manatee? Some enterprising individual could potentially use ropes or nets to harness a manatee to the side of a boat. This makes it much easier to transport the creatures across water.

I can see sharks taking full advantage of this...
 

NothingNow

Banned
It all boils down to how fast they can breed. Eventually people can just get impatient.

Yeah. Also Manatees are actually kinda stupid.

They're like the least useful impossible domesticate anyway, particularly since you can't really herd them or anything.

I mean you can try to do environmental enrichment to get them to be semi-domesticated and make them an easier food source, but that's a pretty big undertaking for a premodern society.
 
The only thing I could see is Manatees becoming something in the way of novelty pets for rich people who have the means in terms of money and private water space to own them.
 
Hi there all. Long time on-again, off-again lurker, first time poster... And I have a bit of an odd one for my first timeline idea. It was inspired by a single, one-off concept introduced in DValdron's Lands of Ice and Mice, which led me to thinking about the possibility of domesticating sea life, and it made me think of one species that might potentially work...

The basic idea is that, around 0 CE, a small group of natives boating across the Caribbean exploring the Greater Antilles gets shipwrecked in the Everglades. In OTL, they either die or land somewhere else. Here, though, they decide to try and make a go of living there...

According to the myths of the Taino people who first encountered Europeans, among thus tribe, there was a young man who was born sickly, and thus wasn't as good at hunting or fishing as his peers. He thus went out among the mangroves a lot, until he came upon a sacred pool containing manatees. Rather than kill them as the tribe typically would, he spent time just observing them, finally working up the courage to swim among them. The docile creatures were unafraid, affectionately nuzzling him. He went there a second time, swimming for hours, scratching their bellies, and telling his troubles to these nonjudgmental creatures. He came back a third time, and as he was about to leave, the manatees stopped him. The largest manatee turned into a beautiful woman, the goddess of the water, known to the Taino as Atabey. She was impressed by the boy's curiosity and gentleness and moved by his unlucky situation. She gave him the name history remembers him by, Bomanati (Technically Bo'manati, meaning Great Lord of the Manatees) and chose to teach him the ways of these beasts. Bomanati did so in secret for the longest time, until one day, tragedy struck. The wife of the tribe's cacique (chief) died of a snakebite. The chief's infant son was too young to eat solid food, and no other women in the tribe were breastfeeding. It seemed like the child would die until Bomanati intervened, calling forth a mother manatee and her calf appeared at the waters near the village. Bomanati took the baby boy and held it to the manatee's breast, who let it suckle as if it were her own calf. Bomanati and his companion helped care for the baby until he could eat solid foods, and the cacique was so grateful that he declared that Bomanati was a powerful bohique (medicine man) and that their tribe would protect the manatees from this day forward, and, in return, the manatees would provide them with food and leather.

While obviously a myth, it's entirely possible that there really was an outcast young man among the tribe (or maybe a woman with some common sense about these creatures filling the role of Atabey and guiding a hapless bohique) who managed to convince his peers that raising manatees for food rather than just hunting them was a worthwhile endeavor. Whatever the cause, ATL archaeology does show that the first manatee herders came from the swamp that we of OTL call the Everglades. The area is, as we know, swampy, miserable, not very good for agriculture, and in general, not a good place for humans to live. Stuck here, they might experiment with domestication. Manatees are docile and nonviolent, large, with a vegetarian diet that don't, and largely can't, consume themselves. And, if you're living in a marshy environment to begin with, the fact that they're aquatic isn't necessarily a deal breaker. Then there's milk. Amerindian peoples are lactose intolerant, but lactose tolerance has an insanely high selection differential in human populations, not to mention that in a tropical environment, manatee milk would easily become manatee yogurt or cheese quickly. And even so, as the myth said, a lactating manatee might help stop infant mortality.

Over time, the herders would select manatees that were larger, more docile (if that's even possible), more gregarious, and, likely, those with faster breeding cycles. From this semi-domesticated form, manatee herding would spread to island and coastal tribes across the Caribbean Sea, changing the history of the area...

I have some ideas for how this might effect history of those places, as well as the challenges and benefits that manatee physiology might have to domestication. But I'm gonna leave this here for now.

P.S. - I'm trying to come up with a name for this timeline. So far, I have "Lands of Salt and Sargassum" (in the great LORAG tradition) and "Milking the Sea Cow"

We need Steller´s seacow to survive !
 
Strengths/Weaknesses of manatees as a domestic

Sorry for the radio silence, real life has been getting in the way. So, here's some background info I have for this timeline

First of all, a retcon. I'm pushing the date of domestication back from circa 0 CE to circa 500 BCE. I wanted to make sure I have enough wiggle room. Also, I should note that while I used the Taino perspective, language, and mythology to describe the mythic origin in the intro, the Taino culture as we know it was not extant in the Caribbean at the time.

Advantages

Size - the West Indian manatee is the largest living sirenian, typically weighing between 200 and 600 kg (~440-1300 lbs). That's a great deal of meat to harvest, particularly if they're well fed and selected for greater size.
Diet - Manatees are herbivores and benefit from eating a large variety of plants that humans, by and large, don't consume. This essentially makes them free protein. Their diet can probably include the waste from human agriculture, such as corn stalks. In West Africa, leftovers from cassava production have been used to lure manatees (the effectiveness of this is iffy, though, since cassava is highly toxic unless treated).
Temperament - This is the big one. Manatees are notoriously gentle creatures. They're typically tolerant of human presence, I've literally seen them approach folks for belly rubs. Manatees are pretty much incapable of harming humans (not saying it's impossible, just that it's extremely unlikely).
Milk - Even though Amerindian populations are lactose intolerant, manatee milk is still a potentially useful resource. Manatees, like cows and goats, lack milk sacs and thus lactate constantly, with calves taking short suckles. Lactose tolerance mutations have a ridiculously high selection differential in humans, so the chances of it occurring at some point and becoming the new normal seems plausible. Even if it doesn't, the tropical climate means that stored manatee milk would become manatee yogurt and, eventually, manatee cheese (manacheese?), which have far less lactose and thus can be eaten.
Lack of Competition - In the Americas, and especially in the Caribbean, there is a serious lack of large domestic animals. Most domesticated animals, such as the Hutia domesticated by the ATL Taino people, are microdomesticates. So, when our group of Caribbean refuges wash up in a resource-poor region of Florida, experiment with domesticating manatees, and succeed, there's an open niche waiting for them to fill.
No Natural Predators - While domesticated land animals have to deal with depredations by wolves, bears, cougars, jaguars, eagles, and the like, manatees do not share that worry. The two possible threats to domestic manatees, sharks and alligators, by and large leave manatees alone.

Neutrals (These are aspects of domestication that, in manatees, confer neither advantages nor disadvantages)

Reproductive Speed - Females reach sexual maturity in a range from 3-5 years, males from 5 to 7, and they breed once every two years. While slow compared to most domestics, especially cows, this rate of growth is comparable to horses and camels. So, while not the best, manatee growth doesn't prohibit domestication the way it does for their closest living relatives, elephants.
Social Behavior - Manatees are typically solitary creatures, but are also non-territorial and have been known to congregate in larger numbers, particularly during winter months in warm-water areas.

Disadvantages

Aquatic - The most obvious issue. Manatees cannot be raised outside of coastal areas without serious effort create canals and aquatic environments. Not to mention that it's difficult to keep them penned.
Useless as a Draft Animal - Humans like to put animals to work, but that can't happen with manatees. They're not strong or fast enough to be of any use in transportation and, being aquatic, they can't help plowing fields either. So manatees are stuck as food/leather sources.
Cold Stress Syndrome - All living sirenians are found in tropical waters. They have a slow metabolism and don't have a layer of blubber, so they are not found outside of warm water. And by warm, I mean that spending a few hours in water below 20 degrees C/68 degrees F causes them to become fatally sick. (Interestingly, there is one extinct sirenian species, the Steller's sea cow, that lived in cold waters...)

The end result, in this timeline at least, is that for the majority of their time as livestock, manatees were a semi-domesticated animal. They were raised by people who were stuck in a bad situation and tried something that worked well enough for them. They became an odd sort of aquapastoralist tribe, acting like fisheries managers to ensure their manatee populations were at a good size to allow for harvesting, while breeding the ones that were more sedentary, that bred quicker, that stayed in larger numbers, that had more subcutaneous fat. These manatees had the side benefit of being a good trade item...

The practice spread at a decent speed across the Caribbean, with tribesmen living in stilt-houses keeping manatees "penned" with nets, grazing them on sea grasses and other wild plants, and supplementing their diets with by-products of agriculture. While widespread, the practice would not be a drastic departure from the ATL way of life...

... At least, not until domesticated manatees reached the Yucatan...

(I relied heavily on the books "Ecology and Conservation of the Sirenia: Dugongs and Manatees" and "CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine: Health, Disease, and Rehabilitation" for much of my research for this)
 
If any sea mammal could be domesticated by pre-modern people, it would be the manatee. Being slow moving and stupid could make it easy to capture and keep.

The problem really is getting people motivated to go to all the trouble. The people who initially capture the manatee will not get the glory and credit that would be showered on someone who captures, say, a dolphin or one of the smaller whales (even though those species would be a lot harder to keep around). If your boats and aquaculture are good enough to hunt and keep manatees, you can also harvest other marine life without going through all the effort of capturing and taming it, so the food motive doesn't really work.
 
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