West Indian manatee pictures and facts

The West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus) is the largest member of the order of Sirenia and can weigh up to 1500 kilograms, although usually somewhere between 400 and 800 kilos. All manatees have a split upper lip. They use both parts of the lip to help put food in their mouths.Because grasses aren't very nutritious they feed on huge quantities. This has also given them a very slow metabolism. Some taxonomies differ two subspecies, the Florida Manatee and the Antillean Manatee. All the three species of manatee are listed as 'vulnerable to extinction' by the IUCN. Although they do not have any natural predators, the increase in human activity has reduced its habitat in the coastal marsh areas and manatees are often injured or killed by collisions with powerboats. Manatees like warm, shallow, coastal estuarine waters, and because of that they often congregate near power plants, where the water is warmer. Some manatees have become reliant on this source of heating and have stopped to migrate to warmer waters. Recently, a couple of power plants have been shut down and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to find a new way to heat the water for these manatees. In Florida, swimming with manatees is a tourist attraction.