Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis)

Amazonian manatees live in freshwater and are found, as their name suggests, in the Amazon River and its tributaries. They eat prodigious amounts of aquatic plants, consuming up to 8% of their own body weight every day. In the dry season, when manatees are forced to leave smaller watercourses as they shrink, they may fast for several weeks, surviving on fat reserves.

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About the Amazonian manatee

The Amazonian Manatee (Trichechus inunguis) is a species of manatee that lives in the freshwater habitats of the Amazon basin. They are found in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Venezuela. Amazonian manatees are aquatic animals of the Sirenia order and are also known as "seacows". Their color is gray but sometimes appears to be a brownish gray. They have thick, wrinkled skin, are almost hairless but have "whiskers" round their mouths. It lacks significant predation, other than being occasionally hunted by humans. The manatees, and the closely related Dugong, are unusual in being the only plant-eating marine mammals of modern times.

A somewhat unique feature (amongst mammals) of the manatee is the constant replacement of molar teeth; new teeth enter at the back of the jaw and replace old and worn teeth at the front. Their closest cousins, the elephants also have teeth that get replaced, but have only a limited set of these replacement teeth.

Amazonian manatees are the smallest species of manatee besides the dwarf manatee. They may reach a length of 9.2 ft. Females are typically larger than males and can weigh 800 to 1200 lbs. They also lack the nails found on the end of most flippers.

Recently, a closely related but far smaller species, the Dwarf Manatee (Trichechus "pygmaeus"), has been described from Brazil by Dr Marc van Roosmalen. Called the peixe-boi anão in Brazilian Portuguese, it is about 130 cm (4.2 ft) long and lives in fast-flowing streams. Its validity has later been questioned, with some believing it is an immature Amazonian Manatee.

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Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animal (animalia)

Phylum: Chordate (Chordata)

Class: Mammal (Mammalia)

Order: Sirenia

Family: Trichechidae

Genus: Trichechus

Species: Amazonian Manatee (inunguis)

Common Names

South American manatee

Where can I see them?

They can be found in the following habitats:

Conservation Status

The Amazonian manatee is Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)

  1. EX - Extinct
  2. EW
  3. CR - Threatened
  4. EN - Threatened
  5. VU - Threatened
  6. NT
  7. LC - Least concern

Population trend: Decreasing

Year assessed: 2008

What's the threat?

The species has suffered extensive hunting throughout its range for its meat by subsistence and commercial hunters. Commercial exploitation is thought to have led to severe declines, beginning as early as the seventeenth century. From 1935 to the mid-1950s manatees were hunted intensively for their thick hide, in addition to their meat. The hide was highly sought after, and was made into heavy-duty leather for machine belts, pulleys and hoses. Although the industry collapsed about 1954 when synthetic alternatives became available, some 4,000-10,000 manatees were killed per year during that period in Brazil alone. Despite laws designed to protect the manatee, both commercial and subsistence hunting continues at potentially unsustainable levels throughout the species’ range. Current threats to the species include accidental drowning in commercial fishing nets, and the degradation of vegetation by soil erosion resulting from deforestation. In addition, the indiscriminate release of mercury in mining activities threatens the entire aquatic ecosystem of the Amazon Basin.

Information about the threat is provided by the Zoological Society of London's EDGE of Existence programme

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