page_title: List of mammals of South America
section_title: Order: Sirenia (manatees and dugongs)
hierarchical_section_title: List of mammals of South America / Subclass: Theria / Infraclass: Eutheria / Superorder: Afrotheria / Order: Sirenia (manatees and dugongs)
caption_attribution_description: Trichechus manatus Original caption&#58; "Manatee calf nursing" — fws.gov Български: Ламантини - майка с малкото ѝ. Català: Manatí del Carib amb la cria. Deutsch: Karibik-Manati mit Kalb. Die Karibik-Manati, eine puerto-ricanische Säugetierart. English: A manatee and her calf. West Indian Manatee, an endangered aquatic mammal of Puerto Rico. Español: Manatí con su cría. Manatí. فارسی: گاو دریایی. Français&#160;: Le lamantin des Caraïbes, un mammifère marin de Porto Rico. Fiji Hindi: Manatee. Italiano: Lamantino dei Caraibi 日本語: 海生哺乳類であるマナティーの授乳。海中で母親のわきの下の乳腺から授乳する。. マナティー（海牛目）. Latviešu: Piena dziedzeri lamantīnam atrodas aiz priekškājām. Nederlands: Caribische lamantijn met kalf. Caribische lamantijn met jong. Norsk nynorsk: Manatho med kalv. Brystet ligg inn under sveiva. Norsk bokmål: Manatku med kalv.
context_page_description: This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in South America. South America's terrestrial mammals fall into three distinct groups: "old-timers", African immigrants and recent North American immigrants. The marsupials and xenarthrans are "old-timers", their ancestors having been present on the continent since at least the very early Cenozoic Era. During the early Cenozoic, South America's only land connection was to Antarctica, so it was effectively cut off from most of the world; as the fragments of Gondwana continued to separate, this connection was lost, leaving South America an island continent. Caviomorph rodents and monkeys arrived as "waif dispersers" by rafting across the Atlantic from Africa in the Eocene epoch, 35 million or more years ago. All the remaining nonflying mammals of South America are recent arrivals, having migrated from North America via Central America during the past seven million years as part of the Great American Interchange; this invasion, which peaked around three million years ago, was made possible when the formation of the volcanic Isthmus of Panama bridged North and South America.
context_section_description: Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four species are endangered. They evolved about 50 million years ago, and their closest living relatives are elephants. The manatees are the only extant afrotherians in the Americas. However, a number proboscid species, some of which survived until the arrival of Paleoindians, once inhabited the region. Those that reached South America have usually been classified as gomphotheres, but sometimes instead as elephantids.
  Family: Trichechidae
  Genus: Trichechus
  Amazonian manatee, Trichechus inunguis VU
  West Indian manatee, Trichechus manatus VU
caption: West Indian manatee
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