Sea cows consist of a group of mammals that includes manatees and dugongs. The fossils of sea cows allow for a good climate record since they are cold-blooded and thus their chemical makeup was not influenced by changing temperatures. A study on the fossilized teeth of sea cows' teeth suggest that the Earth was warm and wet approximately 50 million years ago. The biologists used variations in oxygen isotopes between sea cows from 50 million years ago and present to discover more about ancient Earth's environment. The two most profuse oxygen isotopes of seawater molecules are oxygen 16 and oxygen 18, which marine mammals absorb into their bodies. Enamel scrapings were collected from many sea cow fossils to measure their oxygen isotope ratios. These biologists found that the oxygen 16 to oxygen 18 ratio of sea cows that lived in low latitudes about 50 million years ago had an oxygen 16 concentration that was higher than expected. Rainfall has more oxygen 16 than oxygen 18, suggesting that the low latitudes that these sea cows were living in received more rainfall than they do today. This also suggests a warmer atmosphere during this time period since it would allow for more water vapor to be held. As the Earth's climate is becoming hotter due to global warming, these findings could help scientists predict how water cycles may change in the future.
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