They use their tails to propel themselves and to control movements. Flippers are used to stabilize and for precise movements. Also, in shallow water, they use their flippers to walk on the bottom. Manatees are herbivorous animals that eat submerged, floating, emergent and shoreline vegetation. Manatees feed on over 60 species of plants.
Adults feed six to eight hours a day, in one and two hour sittings.
They like to be petted. Manatees make underwater sounds when frightened, sexually aroused or interacting with each other. The first priority is to return healthy manatees to their natural habitat. Captive rehabilitation enables the study of aspects of manatee biology that would be difficult or impossible to study in the wild. As a result their taxonomic order is known as sirenia.