Description: Adult manatees are large animals (10'-15') using flippers to steer with and a flattened, rounded tail to push through the water. They can weigh 1,000 to 3,000 pounds. Baby manatees weigh about 60-75 pounds when they are born and are about 4' long. How much to you weigh? How old is someone you know who weighs 60-75 pounds?

From a boat manatees look like gray shadows moving through the water and are sometimes hard to see. When they play and roll, you might see their heads, flippers, backs, and tails come out of the water.

Under the water you can see the whole animal and manatee society. You can learn how they live and who their friends are. (Distant cousin is the elephant. See "History", below.)

Personality: Like us, each manatee has its own personality with likes, dislikes, fears, and sense of play. Some manatees are solitary and stay away from other manatees and people; some manatees play follow-the- leader through the water and come up to quiet people and touch them. They are curious, too!

Eyes: Manatees have blue or brown eyes and can see color.

Lips: Like the end of the elephant's trunk, manatee lips can work together to grasp and pull food into their mouths. There are stiff whiskers on their upper lips that also help in eating. Their flippers help hold food.

Ears: It is hard to see manatee ears because they have no ear lobes as we do. (The extra skin would slow them down in the water.) Manatees do have good hearing, though, and call to each other with squeaks and squeals. If you've ever tried to locate where a sound is coming from underwater, you know it is hard to do. Perhaps that is one reason manatees are often struck by boat propellers--maybe they are not able to tell where the motor sounds are coming from, and boats move very fast through the water.

Communication: Manatees tell their feelings with the sounds they make. They also touch each other a lot. Some even seem to kiss on meeting.

Disposition: Manatees may be the most peaceful animals on our planet. They seem to be very calm and not even aware of aggression and anger as we know it.

Breathing: Manatee noses are on top of their faces for easy breathing. Every few minutes, manatees have to surface like we do, to breathe. They appear to be able to do this without hardly interrupting their sleep-- but then they've done this all their lives. About 20 minutes is the breath-holding record, but 10-15 minutes is more common for a resting manatee, and much more often if the manatee is on the move. There are tightly-closing valves on their nostrils to keep the water out.

Habitat: Even though "Chessie" made news by his long trips to the Chesapeake Bay, most manatees who winter in Florida waters only travel north to Virginia and the Carolinas and west to Louisiana. Some stay in Florida year round, even in one area or river. The plants they eat grow where sunlight can reach them, so manatees inhabit rivers and coastal waters. (Note: This is the same area where we use our boats most often.)

Food: Manatees can eat 10 to 15% of their body weight daily. For adults, that might mean 100 pounds or more of aquatic plants every day! The babies nurse from their moms, but also learn from them which plants to eat and will begin to graze about the week after they are born.

History: Fossil records place manatees on the Earth earlier than humans. They are believed to have evolved from a plant-eating, wading animal. A small animal called a horax, the huge elephant, and the manatee are all thought to have the same ancestor. You will find many physical characteristics of manatees similar to what you already know in elephants.

Reproduction: Manatees have a low reproductive rate. They may be 5-9 years old before they are mature, and one calf is born only every 2 to 5 years. Twins are rare. Gestation period is around 13 months. A cow may nurse her calf for two years.

Protection: Manatees are protected by law from people and how they drive their boats, but still the death rate every year seems to approximate the birth rate. Manatees are also victims of natural threats, and as yet nothing can protect them from the red tide poisonings and cold weather snaps that kill them.