page_title: Manatee
section_title: Range and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Manatee / Ecology / Range and habitat
caption_attribution_description: Trichechus manatus English: This group of three West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) was photographed while feeding on seagrass.
context_page_description: Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee, the West Indian manatee, and the West African manatee. They measure up to 4.0 metres long, weigh as much as 590 kilograms, and have paddle-like flippers. The etymology of the name is unclear, with connections having been made to Latin manus, and to a word – sometimes cited as manati – used by the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning "breast". Manatees' other name, sea cows, comes from the fact that they are slow plant-eaters, peaceful and similar to cows on land. They often graze on water plants in tropical seas.
context_section_description: Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (T. manatus, West Indian manatee), the Amazon basin (T. inunguis, Amazonian manatee), and West Africa (T. senegalensis, West African manatee).
  West Indian manatees prefer warmer temperatures and are known to congregate in shallow waters.  They frequently migrate through brackish water estuaries to freshwater springs. They cannot survive below 15 °C (60 °F). Their natural source for warmth during winter is warm, spring-fed rivers.
caption: Three manatees
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