West Indian manatee

서인도제도매너티

A slow, gentle "sea cow" about 3 m long, and a distant cousin of elephants. It grazes seagrass in warm shallow water, eating roughly a tenth of its body weight a day, and gathers at warm springs in winter because it is sensitive to cold.

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At a glance

Class: Mammals
Diet: Plant eater (herbivore)
Weight: about 500 kg
Length: about 3 m
Top speed: about 30 km/h
Lifespan: up to about 60 years
Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN VU)
Habitat: coasts, rivers & lakes

Quick answers

Where does the West Indian manatee live?

It lives in coasts, rivers & lakes of the Atlantic Ocean.

How big is the West Indian manatee?

It grows to about 3 m and 500 kg.

What does the West Indian manatee eat?

Its diet: plant eater (herbivore).

How fast is the West Indian manatee?

It can reach about 30 km/h.

How long does the West Indian manatee live?

It can live up to about 60 years.

Is the West Indian manatee endangered?

It is listed as Vulnerable (IUCN VU).

The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is a large, gentle aquatic mammal of warm coastal waters of the Caribbean, from the eastern United States to northern Brazil. It is often called a sea cow and is the largest living member of the sirenians, the group that includes the dugong.

A typical one is 2.7 to 3.5 metres long and weighs 200 to 600 kilograms. The biggest on record weighed 1,655 kilograms and measured 4.6 metres. Manatees are herbivores that eat underwater plants such as seagrass, and they use sensitive whiskers to feed and find their way.

Body of a swimmer

Manatees breathe air, are warm-blooded and give milk to their young, but they have fully adapted to water. They have no hind limbs, only a flat, paddle-like tail for pushing through water, and no outside ear flaps.

Wild manatees are thought to live 50 years or more. A captive Florida manatee named Snooty lived to 69, and Romeo, at the Gulfarium in Florida, was recognised in 2026 as the record holder at 71.

Slow life, careful protection

A female usually has one calf every two to three years. In the 1970s only several hundred were left in the United States and the animal was listed as endangered.

Protection, especially from boat collisions, helped numbers recover, and in 2017 the status was changed to threatened. Both subspecies, the Florida and the Antillean manatee, still face habitat loss and pollution.