Wildlife Viewing - Species Spotlight

Species Spotlight : Manatee

The Florida manatee is a large brown-gray marine mammal. Shaped like a walrus, it has two flippers for forelimbs and a broad, rounded tail. Although manatees can grow up to 13 feet long and weigh 3,000 pounds, average adults fall between 800 and 1200 pounds and are about 8-10 feet long. Their skin is thick and finely wrinkled with sparse hair seen from head to tail. Stiff whiskers bristle around their mouth.

These gentle, slow-moving animals, often called sea cows, are vegetarians, browsing on aquatic plants along the Florida Atlantic and Gulf coasts as well as in shallow, slow moving coastal rivers, estuaries, bays and canals. Occasionally, manatees range as far north as Virginia and the Carolinas and as far west as Louisiana during the warm season, but when water temperatures fall below 68 degrees, they return to the warm waters in Florida.

Despite being shy and largely solitary animals, they are curious creatures, agile for their size, and playful when found together--they have been observed doing barrel rolls and headstands or surfing the waves in a “follow-the-leader” fashion.

Female manatees mature sexually at about age 3-5 years old (males as early as 2 or 3) and successfully breed and give birth to one calf every two to three years after they reach six years old. Researchers have found that manatees can live to be 60 years old. They have no natural enemies, but many deaths are human-related. Almost one-third of all recorded manatee deaths are due to collisions with watercraft. Other serious threats to the manatee population include the increasing loss of habitat resulting from coastal development and the associated effects of increasing contamination from water pollution.

Manatees are a federally endangered species, and protected by both state and federal law. To find out more information about manatees call the FWC Bureau of Protected Species at 850-922-4330 or visit their web site listed below.

To report manatee harassment, injuries, deaths or orphaned calves, please contact the FWC Resource Protection hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).

Where you can find Florida manatees

For more information about Florida manatees

Wildlife Viewing : Species Spotlight : Manatee

Species Spotlight : Manatee