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West Indian Manatee | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

West Indian Manatee

Trichechus manatus

MammaliaWarm shallow coastal waters, estuaries, rivers and springsVulnerable

Field profile

The West Indian manatee is a large, slow-moving aquatic herbivore of warm shallow waters. It grazes on seagrass and freshwater vegetation and must remain in warm water through winter. Florida manatees gather at natural springs and industrial warm-water outfalls when temperatures drop.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-04-14

West Indian Manatee

A manatee replaces its teeth on a conveyor belt

Grinding gritty seagrass wears teeth out fast. Manatee molars migrate forward through the jaw, fall out at the front and are replaced from behind, a marching-teeth arrangement shared with elephants only in outline, not in mechanism.

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