In the United States, West Indian manatees are endangered. As mammals, manatees must surface to breathe air. As vegetarians, they spend up to eight hours a day pulling plants toward their mouths with their flippers and flexible lips. But the warm, shallow lagoons and coastal waters where manatees feed also hold great danger. These places are human playgrounds, where people drive powerboats and Jet Skis.
Manatees have other headaches too.
People's trash chokes the animals or blocks their intestines. Cold weather can kill manatees if it makes water temperatures too low. This fragile species could soon die off completely. Fortunately scientists, wildlife officials, and others are trying to help. They are establishing manatee refuges and encouraging people on the water to act in ways that are manatee friendly.