About Manatees:
• Manatees are aquatic mammals that belong to a group of animals called Sirenia. This group also contains dugongs.
• Dugongs and manatees are very similar in appearance and behavior, but there is one key difference: their tails.
o Manatees have paddle-shaped tails, and dugongs have fluked tails, giving them a whale-like appearance.
• Habitat: Manatees inhabit shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers.
• There are three species, or types, of manatee.
o The Amazonian manatee lives in the Amazon Riverand in fresh water in South America. This species is only found in freshwater.
o The African manatee lives in tropical West Africa.
o The Caribbean manatee is found in Florida and the West Indies.
• Features:
o Adult manatees may reach a length of 15 feet (4.6 meters) and a weight of 1,660 kilograms.
o Dull gray, blackish, or brown in colour, all three manatee species have stout tapered bodies ending in a flat rounded tail used for forward propulsion.
o The forelimbs are modified into flippers; there are no hind limbs.
o In order to breathe, they must swim to the water’s surface for air.
o Lifespan: 50 to 60 years
o They are herbivores. They graze along the seabed and eat seagrasses, giving them the nickname “sea cow”.
o They spend up to eight hours a day grazing and can consume 4 to 9 percent of their body weight in aquatic vegetation daily.
o Apart from mothers and their young, or males following a receptive female, manatees are generally solitary animals.
• Conservation Status: All three manatee species are listed as ‘Vulnerable’ by the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.
