---
title: "What the sources say about the West Indian Manatee | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "49 claims from the West Indian Manatee profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the West Indian Manatee (*Trichechus manatus*)

> 49 claims from the West Indian Manatee profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [West Indian Manatee](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/manatee/)

## West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Species Profile.

https://www.fws.gov/species/west-indian-manatee-trichechus-manatus

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the warm springs many manatees rely on in cooler months | To keep warm in cooler months, many manatees rely on the warm water from natural springs, power plant outfalls, and passive thermal basins. (note: the source's "many" is now carried in the text itself) |
| from the southeastern United States through the Caribbean, Central America and northeastern South America | Today West Indian manatees are found in the southeastern U.S., eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panamá, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and in the Bahamas. |
| 9 to 10 feet long and weighs around 1,000 pounds | Adult manatees are typically 9-10 feet long but can reach lengths of more than 13 feet... Adult manatees typically weigh around 1,000 pounds but some can weigh as much as 3,500 pounds. |
| some individuals reach more than 13 feet and weigh as much as 3,500 pounds | can reach lengths of more than 13 feet... some can weigh as much as 3,500 pounds. |
| A newborn calf weighs just 60 to 70 pounds | At birth, a manatee calf weighs around 60 to 70 pounds. |
| stays close to its mother for about two years while she teaches it how to migrate and where the warm water sites are | The mother manatee cares for her calf for about two years. This is a very important time for the manatee calf as, during this time, the adult female teaches her offspring critical survival skills: how to migrate, where the warm water sites are, and where to find forage, freshwater, and sheltered areas. |
| range along the coasts and rivers of the southeastern United States, through the Caribbean and Central America | Today West Indian manatees are found in the southeastern U.S., eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panamá, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and in the Bahamas. (note: manatees live in "coastal and riverine areas throughout their range" per the same page) |
| down to Brazil's northeastern Atlantic coast | The Antillean manatee is found along the Gulf of America coast, through the Caribbean, and along Brazil’s northeastern Atlantic coastline. (note: this is the page's current-range statement; its "as far south as Brazil's Atlantic coastline" elsewhere is the historical range) |
| a range-wide population estimate of at least 13,000 | the range-wide population estimate for the West Indian manatee is at least 13,000 manatees. |
| a manatee can hold its breath for as long as 20 minutes | Manatees typically surface every three to five minutes to breathe but can hold their breath as long as 20 minutes. |

## Florida Manatee Facts and Information. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

https://myfwc.com/education/wildlife/manatee/facts-and-information/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| grazed for up to eight hours a day | these herbivores usually spend up to eight hours a day grazing on seagrasses and other aquatic plants. |
| Marching molars that are constantly replaced, new teeth forming at the back of the jaw and moving forward about a centimeter a month | A manatee's teeth (all molars) are constantly being replaced. New teeth come in at the back of the jaw and move forward horizontally about a centimeter a month. |
| Manatees may live past 65 years in captivity | may live over 65 years in captivity. |
| of the wild manatees that reach adulthood, only about half are expected to survive into their early twenties | Of the wild manatees that reach adulthood, only about half are expected to survive into their early 20s. |
| Manatees usually spend up to eight hours a day grazing on seagrass, mangrove leaves and algae | these herbivores usually spend up to eight hours a day grazing on seagrasses and other aquatic plants. (note: "seagrass, mangrove leaves and algae" for the specific plants comes from uwi-manatee, quoted separately above; this entry covers the body's "eight hours a day" figure specifically) |
| using an upper lip whose two sides move independently to grab plants and draw them into their mouths, the same trick an elephant, a distant relative, pulls off with the tip of its trunk | A manatee can move each side of its lip pads independently. This flexibility allowsthe manatee to "grab" aquatic plants and draw them into its mouth. The manatee uses its muscular prehensile upper lips much like an elephant (a distant relative of the manatee) uses the tip of its trunk to pick up items. (note: source text runs "allowsthe" as one word (extraction artifact); quoted verbatim) |
| warm springs and power-plant outflows | Prior to winter's coldest months, manatees migrate to warm water habitats in Florida. These warm-water sites include artesian springs and power plant discharge canals. |
| A manatee's ribs are solid bone with no marrow (its red blood cells form in its sternum instead) | The manatee's rib bones are solid, there is no marrow. They make red blood cells in their sternum where marrow is found. |
| its lungs run a meter or more along its backbone instead of around its ribcage | The manatee's lungs lie along its backbone instead of along its rib cage as is found in most mammals. The lungs are long (1 meter or more in adults) |
| Manatees also wear down their molars on plants that often carry sand, so new teeth grow in at the back of the jaw and shuffle forward about a centimeter a month to replace the ones that fall out the front | New teeth come in at the back of the jaw and move forward horizontally about a centimeter a month. The front molars eventually fall out and are replaced by the teeth behind them. This tooth replacement is an adaptation to the manatee's diet as manatees consume plants that often hold sand that can wear down its teeth. (note: "so" restates the causal link the source itself states ("This tooth replacement is an adaptation to... diet"), not an added claim) |
| Manatees have no biting teeth, only grinding molars, and a diet of plants that often carry sand wears those molars down. | Manatees have no "biting" teeth, only "grinding" teeth. A manatee's teeth (all molars) are constantly being replaced. |
| new teeth form at the back of the jaw and shuffle forward about a centimeter a month, eventually pushing the oldest molars out the front | New teeth come in at the back of the jaw and move forward horizontally about a centimeter a month. The front molars eventually fall out and are replaced by the teeth behind them. |

## Manatee. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/manatee

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| dense bones may help keep it neutrally buoyant | The manatee skeleton is made of very dense bone (pachyostotic) a condition that may contribute to its “neutral buoyancy,” meaning its physical body density is equal to the water in which it swims. (note: tagline paraphrase of 'may contribute to its neutral buoyancy') |
| That unusually dense skeleton may contribute to a manatee's neutral buoyancy: a body whose density equals the water it swims in | The manatee skeleton is made of very dense bone (pachyostotic) a condition that may contribute to its “neutral buoyancy,” meaning its physical body density is equal to the water in which it swims. (note: the marrow sits in the sternum, so the skeleton is no longer called marrow-free) |
| A manatee swaps out 90 percent of the air in its lungs with each breath. | When they do take a breath, they do it well: 90 percent of the air in their lungs is replaced, while humans, in contrast, only replace about 10 percent. |
| Humans manage about 10 percent | When they do take a breath, they do it well: 90 percent of the air in their lungs is replaced, while humans, in contrast, only replace about 10 percent. (note: the 20-minute figure in the same sentence is claimed separately against fws-manatee; no source links the two, so the sentence no longer says the breath exchange is part of why) |
| replaces 90 percent of the air in its lungs with each breath, against a human's 10 percent | When they do take a breath, they do it well: 90 percent of the air in their lungs is replaced, while humans, in contrast, only replace about 10 percent. (note: SDZ's page covers all three manatee species; the breathing statement is made of manatees generally) |

## Trichechus manatus (West Indian Manatee). The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.

https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Trichechus_manatus%20-%20West%20Indian%20Manatee.pdf

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Shallow coastal waters, slow-moving rivers and estuaries | Found in shallow coastal areas, slow moving rivers and estuaries, canals and saltwater bays. |
| Mainly seagrass, mangrove leaves and algae | The diet of the manatee mainly herbivorous, they prefer seagrasses, mangrove leaves and algae. (note: the source's "mainly" is now carried in the text itself (the same source records occasional insects, crustaceans and fish)) |

## Deutsch & Morales-Vela (2024). Trichechus manatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2024: e.T22103A43792740.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2024-2.rlts.t22103a43792740.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Vulnerable | Vulnerable (note: IUCN category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List, per docs/fact-check.md; quote is exactly "Vulnerable" as instructed, too short to prove much beyond the category itself, which is expected for this claim type) |

## Laist, Taylor & Reynolds (2013). Winter Habitat Preferences for Florida Manatees and Vulnerability to Cold. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058978

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Florida manatees, especially young ones, are vulnerable to death from cold stress once the water falls below about 18 to 20°C for long stretches, or drops to 10 to 12°C for even a few days | Florida manatees, particularly juveniles, are vulnerable to death from cold stress when water temperatures fall below 18–20°C for long periods of time, or to temperatures of 10–12°C or less for periods of a few days or less. |
| To survive those spells, almost all of Florida's manatees stay near warm springs and power-plant outflows. | To survive such periods almost all Florida manatees remain near pockets of warm water (note: the two refuge types named in the sentence are claimed separately against fwc-manatee below) |
| Florida manatees, especially young ones, are vulnerable to death from cold stress once the water falls below about 18 to 20°C for long stretches, or to 10 to 12°C for even a few days | Florida manatees, particularly juveniles, are vulnerable to death from cold stress when water temperatures fall below 18–20°C for long periods of time, or to temperatures of 10–12°C or less for periods of a few days or less. |
| Statewide winter counts from 1999 to 2011 put 48.5% of manatees at power-plant outfalls, 17.5% at natural springs and 34.9% at passive thermal basins or sites with no known warm-water feature. | Using statewide winter counts of manatees from 1999 to 2011... Statewide across all years, 48.5% of all manatees were counted at power plant outfalls, 17.5% at natural springs, and 34.9 % at passive thermal basins or sites with no known warm-water features. |
| Comparing where cold-stress carcasses turned up against where those refuges are, springs appear to offer the best protection. | Based on a comparison of carcass recovery locations for 713 manatees killed by cold stress between 1999 and 2011 and the distribution of known refuges, it appears that springs offer manatees the best protection against cold stress. |

## Gerstein et al. (1999). The underwater audiogram of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

https://doi.org/10.1121/1.424681

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| whose weak low-frequency hearing may be part of why boats keep hitting it | Inadequate hearing sensitivity at low frequencies may be a contributing factor to the manatees' inability to effectively detect boat noise and avoid collisions with boats. (note: the source's hedge and its scope (low frequencies, a contributing factor) are carried into the tagline as "weak low-frequency hearing may be part of why"; how often collisions kill manatees is claimed separately in the body against sdz-manatee) |
| A manatee's best hearing sits between roughly 6 and 20 kilohertz. | The range of best hearing is 6-20 kHz (approximately 9 dB down from maximum sensitivity). (note: "roughly" added to keep the approximate framing the source itself uses ("approximately")) |
| Researchers who tested two adult manatees found that weak hearing at low frequencies may be a contributing factor in why the animals struggle to detect boat noise and avoid collisions. | The hearing thresholds of two adult manatees were measured... Inadequate hearing sensitivity at low frequencies may be a contributing factor to the manatees' inability to effectively detect boat noise and avoid collisions with boats. |

## Gaspard et al. (2013). Detection of hydrodynamic stimuli by the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris). Journal of Comparative Physiology A.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-013-0822-x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Stiff whiskers called vibrissae cover a manatee's entire body, and research suggests they work like a fish's lateral line, a sensory system built to read water movement. | Anatomical and behavioral research suggests that the vibrissae and associated follicle-sinus complexes that manatees possess over their entire body form a sensory array system for detecting hydrodynamic stimuli analogous to the lateral line system of fish. |
| two Florida manatees detected water displacement of less than a millionth of a meter at frequencies from 15 to 150 hertz | Two Florida manatees were tested in a go/no-go procedure using a staircase method to assess their ability to detect low-frequency water movement... The manatees detected particle displacement of less than 1 μm for frequencies of 15-150 Hz (note: 1 μm is one millionth of a meter; Hz written out as hertz for the audience) |
| Florida manatees have little difficulty in the turbid waterways they live in, which often contain obstacles they have to swim around. | They have little difficulty navigating the turbid waterways, which often contain obstacles that they must circumnavigate. (note: the source's subject is "Florida manatees" in the preceding sentence; named here so "they" is not read as the two tested animals) |

## Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Threatened Status for the Florida Manatee and Endangered Status for the Antillean Manatee. Federal Register, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2025.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-14/html/2025-00467.htm

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Ninety-six percent of Florida manatees have scars from at least one watercraft collision | Ninety-six percent of Florida manatees have scars from at least one watercraft collision |
| from 1990 through 2021 those collisions were the most prevalent cause of death for Florida manatees, behind 19.1 percent of all documented carcasses | From 1990 through 2021, watercraft-related collisions were the most prevalent cause of death for Florida manatees; during that time, 2,503 Florida manatee deaths (or 19.1 percent of all documented carcasses) were attributed to watercraft-related collisions (note: replaces the San Diego Zoo page's undated 'about half the deaths', which the 2025 Federal Register contradicts) |
| In 2017 the West Indian manatee, both subspecies included, was reclassified from endangered to threatened. | In 2017, the West Indian manatee, including both subspecies, was reclassified from endangered to threatened (see 82 FR 16668, April 5, 2017). |
| In a proposed rule published on 14 January 2025 | Federal Register Volume 90, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025)... ACTION: Proposed rule. |
| the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the Florida manatee as threatened and the Antillean manatee as endangered | we are proposing to list the Florida manatee as a threatened species with protective regulations under section 4(d) of the Act... and the Antillean manatee as an endangered species, under the Act. |
| two listings that would replace the current threatened listing of the species | These two listings would replace the current threatened species listing of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus). |
| tags: herbivore | West Indian manatees (manatees) are large, herbivorous marine mammals with short, paired flippers and a distinct paddle-shaped tail. |
| weightKg: 400 | Adults average about 3.0 meters (m) (9.8 feet (ft)) in length and 400 kilograms (kg) (900 pounds (lb)) in weight (note: weightKg records a typical adult, which is the average the quote gives) |