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manatee
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West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) World map showing the geographic ranges of the four living species of the order Sirenia: the West Indian manatee (highlighted in yellow along the southeastern US, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and northeast South America), the Amazonian manatee (in green within the Amazon River basin), the African manatee (in pink along the west coast and rivers of West and Central Africa), and the dugong (in purple along coastal waters from East Africa through the Indian Ocean to northern Australia and parts of So Illustration of a West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) shown from side and top views, with a faint scuba diver silhouette for scale and a bar indicating the average length of 3 meters or 10 feet. An adult manatee swims underwater beside a smaller baby manatee in clear, shallow water above a sandy ocean floor. Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) Features of dugongs and manatees compared.
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West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus)
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West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus)
West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) (Left) Juvenile and (right) adult female manatees (Trichechus manatus).

manatee

mammal
Also known as: Trichechus
Written by
Thomas O'Shea
Wildlife Biologist, Midcontinent Ecological Science Center, United States Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado. Former deputy chair, Sirenian Specialist Group, International Union for Conservation of Nature...
Thomas O'Shea
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
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•History

manatee, (genus Trichechus), any of three species of large slow aquatic mammals found along tropical and subtropical Atlantic coasts and associated inland waters, including the watersheds of the Amazon and Niger rivers. Dull gray, blackish, or brown in colour, all three manatee species have stout tapered bodies ending in a flat rounded tail used for forward propulsion. The forelimbs are modified into flippers; there are no hind limbs. The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), which...

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