Manatees are large, gentle, plant-eating mammals that live in warm water. There are three kinds: West Indian, Amazonian and West African. An average adult is about 3 m long. Manatees eat up to 10% of their body weight in plants a day, and their closest relatives are elephants. All three kinds are listed as Vulnerable.
manatees quick facts
- There are three kinds of manatee.
- A manatee’s closest living relatives are elephants.
- A resting manatee can hold its breath for up to 20 minutes.
- Manatees have only six neck bones, so they cannot turn their heads.
- There are at least 8,350 Florida manatees.
What is a manatee?
A manatee is a large, gentle, plant-eating mammal that lives in warm water. Manatees are sometimes called sea cows, because they spend so much of their time grazing on underwater plants.
Manatees are mammals, like whales and dolphins. They breathe air, feed their babies milk and are warm-blooded, but they spend their whole lives in the water.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Save the Manatee Club say manatees belong to a small group of sea mammals called Sirenia. The group has three kinds of manatee, plus a close relative called the dugong.
| Manatee at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Group | Sirenia, with the dugong |
| Kinds | West Indian, Amazonian and West African manatees |
| Average size | about 3 m (10 feet) long, 360 to 540 kg |
| Food | seagrass and other water plants |
| Breath-hold | up to 20 minutes when resting |
| Calves | one every three to five years |
| Status | Vulnerable (all three kinds) |
Kinds of manatee
Save the Manatee Club says there are three kinds of manatee.
West Indian manatee: it lives in the Caribbean and around the south-eastern United States. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says it has two subspecies, the Florida manatee and the Antillean manatee.
Amazonian manatee: Animal Diversity Web says it lives only in fresh water, in the lakes and rivers of the Amazon Basin in South America. It is the smallest manatee, and often has a pale patch on its chest. Explore its home in our Amazon River facts.
West African manatee: Animal Diversity Web says it lives in rivers, river mouths and shallow coastal waters along the west coast of Africa, from Senegal to Angola.
What does a manatee look like?
Manatees are big and round. Save the Manatee Club says an average adult is about 3 m (10 feet) long and weighs about 360 to 540 kg (800 to 1,200 pounds).
Some grow even bigger. Florida Fish and Wildlife says the largest Florida manatees can be over 4 m (13 feet) long and weigh more than 1,580 kg (3,500 pounds), heavier than a small car.
A manatee has a round, flat tail shaped like a paddle, which it moves up and down to swim. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says manatees have whiskers on their broad snouts, which help them feel their way.
Amazing bodies
Manatees have some surprising features. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says they have only six neck bones, while most mammals, including people and giraffes, have seven. So a manatee cannot turn its head. It turns its whole body to look around.
Their bones are very dense and heavy. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says this helps them float at just the right depth in the water, like a diver’s weight belt.
Manatees have “marching molars”. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says their worn-out teeth are replaced throughout their lives, moving forward in the jaw as gritty plants grind the old ones down.
Scientists can even tell a manatee’s age. Save the Manatee Club says they count yearly growth rings in its ear bones, a bit like counting the rings in a tree.
Surprising relatives
Manatees are called sea cows, but they are not related to cows at all. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Save the Manatee Club say their closest living relatives are elephants and small animals called hyraxes.
Manatees, elephants and hyraxes shared an ancestor that lived on land more than 50 million years ago. Over time, the manatees’ ancestors moved into the water.
The name Sirenia comes from the sirens of Greek myths, sea creatures said to lure sailors with their songs. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says sailors’ stories of mermaids may have been inspired by manatees and dugongs.
What do manatees eat?
Manatees are plant-eaters, or herbivores. Florida Fish and Wildlife says they munch seagrass and other water plants.
They eat a lot. Florida Fish and Wildlife and the US Fish and Wildlife Service say a manatee can eat up to 10% of its body weight each day. For a big manatee, that is 45 to 68 kg (100 to 150 pounds) of greens.
Breathing and swimming
Manatees must come to the surface to breathe air. Florida Fish and Wildlife says an active manatee comes up every three to five minutes, but a resting manatee can hold its breath for up to 20 minutes.
They are very good at breathing. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says a manatee can replace about 90% of the air in its lungs in one breath. People replace much less.
Manatees are usually slow swimmers. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Florida Fish and Wildlife say they cruise at about 5 to 8 km/h (3 to 5 mph), but can speed up to about 24 km/h (15 mph) in short bursts.
Where do manatees live?
Florida manatees live mainly along the coasts of Florida. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says that in warm months, some travel as far west as Texas and as far north as Delaware Bay.
Save the Manatee Club says Florida and Antillean manatees can live in salt water, fresh water, or brackish water, which is a mix of the two.
Staying warm
Manatees cannot cope with cold water. Save the Manatee Club and the US Fish and Wildlife Service say they cannot stand water below about 20 °C (68 °F) for long.
So in winter, Florida manatees look for warm places. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says they crowd into natural springs, the warm water that flows out of power plants and other warm basins. Hundreds of manatees can gather in one spring.
Manatee calves
A mother manatee is pregnant for about 12 to 13 months, Save the Manatee Club and Florida Fish and Wildlife say. She usually has one calf. Twins are rare.
A newborn calf is already big. Florida Fish and Wildlife says it is about 1.2 to 1.4 m (4 to 4.5 feet) long and weighs about 27 to 32 kg (60 to 70 pounds).
The calf stays with its mother for up to two years, learning travel routes and the best places to feed, Florida Fish and Wildlife says.
Manatees have babies only every three to five years, so their numbers grow slowly. Florida Fish and Wildlife says manatees can live over 65 years in human care, although in the wild only about half reach their early twenties.
How many manatees are there?
Florida manatees have made a comeback. The US Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife say there are now at least 8,350 Florida manatees, up from a minimum estimate of 1,267 in 1991.
Florida has protected manatees by law since 1893. Florida Fish and Wildlife says that in 2017, the US government moved them from “endangered” to “threatened”, because their numbers had improved.
All three kinds of manatee are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says.
Dangers for manatees
Boats are a big danger. Florida Fish and Wildlife says that in 2025, at least 98 manatee deaths were caused by boats. Slow-moving manatees near the surface can be hit by boats and propellers.
Losing seagrass is another problem. Florida Fish and Wildlife says that between December 2020 and March 2025, 1,255 manatees died on Florida’s east coast, mostly from starvation after seagrass disappeared from the Indian River Lagoon.
People stepped in to help. Florida Fish and Wildlife says workers and volunteers fed the hungry manatees at least 272,000 kg (600,000 pounds) of lettuce and other greens over two winters.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service says other dangers include getting tangled in fishing gear, cold snaps and loss of habitat.
Manatee or dugong?
The dugong is the manatee’s close cousin. Animal Diversity Web says dugongs live only in the sea, along warm coasts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with the biggest group off northern Australia.
You can tell them apart by their tails. A dugong has a whale-like tail with two points, while a manatee has a round, paddle-shaped tail. A dugong’s snout also points downward, for grazing seagrass on the sea floor.
Sirenians once included a giant. Save the Manatee Club says Steller’s sea cow was discovered in 1741, and hunted to extinction within 27 years.
Manatees beyond Florida
Florida is not the only home of West Indian manatees. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says there are at least 13,000 West Indian manatees across their whole range, including fewer than 7,000 Antillean manatees.
Antillean manatees live from the Gulf coast of Mexico, through Central America, to north-eastern Brazil, and around the larger islands of the Caribbean.
Amazonian manatees have had a hard history. Animal Diversity Web says that in the 1930s and 1940s, they were killed by the thousands for their hides.
Some rescues have a happier ending. Florida Fish and Wildlife says that in 2025, workers rescued 33 live manatees hurt by boats, the highest number on record.
Three things people get wrong
Manatees are not related to cows. Their closest relatives are elephants.
Manatees are not fish. They are mammals that breathe air.
Manatees cannot live in cold water. They need water warmer than about 20 °C.
Did you know? Scientists can tell a manatee’s age by counting growth rings in its ear bones, like the rings of a tree.
Try it
Try turning to look behind you without moving your neck. That is how a manatee has to look around.
Knowledge check
What are a manatee’s closest relatives?
Show answer
Elephants and hyraxes.
Why do manatees gather in springs in winter?
Show answer
They need warm water and cannot survive long in cold water.
Frequently asked questions
What is a manatee?
A manatee is a large, gentle, plant-eating mammal that lives in warm water. It is sometimes called a sea cow.
How big do manatees get?
An average adult is about 3 m long and weighs 360 to 540 kg. The biggest Florida manatees can weigh over 1,580 kg.
What do manatees eat?
Manatees eat seagrass and other water plants, up to 10% of their body weight a day, which can be 45 to 68 kg.
Are manatees related to cows?
No. Despite the nickname sea cow, their closest living relatives are elephants and small animals called hyraxes.
Where do manatees live?
West Indian manatees live around Florida and the Caribbean, Amazonian manatees in the Amazon Basin, and West African manatees along Africa’s west coast.
Why are manatees in danger?
Boat strikes, loss of seagrass, fishing gear, cold snaps and habitat loss all threaten manatees. All three kinds are listed as Vulnerable.
Sources
- Save the Manatee Club: manatee facts — kinds, size, water types, cold limit, ageing, relatives and Steller’s sea cow
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: West Indian manatee — subspecies, range, diet, winter warm-water sites, numbers and threats
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: Florida manatee — size, breathing, diet, calves and lifespan; its manatee hub and 2025 mortality review were also used
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: manatee — neck bones, dense bones, teeth, senses, breathing, relatives and status
- Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan: Amazonian manatee — the Amazonian manatee; its pages on the West African manatee and the dugong were also used
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: the 2020 to 2025 manatee die-off — starvation deaths after seagrass loss and the lettuce feeding programme
