Story by: Bell Lowry
Manta rays are one of the most beautiful, whimsical creatures to grace this earth, everything about them is quite fascinating. Despite their massive size, manta rays are completely harmless. Their close relative, the sting ray, might have you thinking they have barbed tails, but their tails are completely bare, no stinger, no barb. They are also non-carnivorous creatures, they are filter feeders meaning that they purely feed off of plankton and other little organisms that float around in the ocean. Because of their gentle disposition and lack of any predators, many smaller animals flock near manta rays, almost making them like the guardians of the ocean.
The most spectacular thing about manta rays though, is their insane intelligence, after all they are considered to be the most intelligent fish. Out of every fishy creature, they have the largest body to brain ratio and because they are so big, this means their brains are huge! Scientists have performed many tests with the rays, regarding mirrors and their reactions to them. The studies found that the rays were very interested in the mirrors, specifically themselves, reacting in ways that imply they are self aware creatures. They also have complex social interaction with each other as well as humans with scientists theorising that they can actually recognize individual people. Their overall nature around humans is one of gentle curiosity and intrigue, not giving off a shred of aggression in their demeanors.
Though manta ray’s are officially recognized as animals with a consciousness, they are still hunted profusely as well as being victims of habitat loss, making them also recognized as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This is the sad reality for many amazing sea animals but there is still hope for them if people are aware of their conditions and care enough to help even in just little ways. Ways anyone can help can really be as simple as finding an alternative to plastic that would most likely pollute the oceans or deciding to buy the chicken flavor of cat food instead of the salmon flavor in order not to support mass fishing practices that harm endangered species. There is still hope for every endangered species, and all it takes is subtle lifestyle changes.
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