What Do Manatees Eat

Manatees are big animals with a big appetite. They are gray and they have very flexible front limbs and a tail shaped like a paddle to help it swim forward. The front limbs are called flippers. Amazingly, these flippers have three to four nails. Their snouts usually sport whiskers and they are wrinkled. If you observe manatees closely, they have resemblance with the elephant, which is distantly connected to it in the evolutionary chain.

With their size and their appetite, what do manatees eat to keep themselves healthy?

The diet of manatees is greatly affected by their habitat. They are usually found in rivers with slow currents, in saltwater bays, coastal areas and canals. They also migrate to different places especially during the winter so they can go to warm waters and preserve their body heat. They are mammals after all and they need to maintain their body heat. In the United States, manatees converge in the rivers of Florida during the winter. During summer months though, they can be seen as far as South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Virginia.

Just like cows on land, the manatees, which are also called sea cows are herbivores. They can consume up to 100 pounds of vegetables and plants for just a day. They can eat different kinds of plants. In fact an estimated 60 species of plants make up their diet. This includes the leaves of mangrove trees, some types of algae and turtle grass. The depletion of mangrove population in rivers and other aquatic areas therefore has a very important part on their survival as a species.

The manatees eat food by using their divided upper live. Through this upper lip that strangely resembles a short elephant trunk, they can gather leaves and other plants and put it into their mouth. The teeth of manatees are also designed for chewing plants. They have no sharp canine teeth. Instead, what they have are 2-3 pairs of teeth that resemble molars and premolars. What is surprising, however, is that when they lose a tooth, they are constantly being replenished throughout their life span. In addition to plants and vegetables, the manatees can also consume small amounts of fish.

The food of the manatees is readily available from their habitat. With the increasing level of pollution, human activities and other means of habitat destruction, the population of manatees is under threat. If their habitat is not saved from destruction, they will find it difficult to find food and eventually they will die. Habitat protection is therefore crucial for manatees to eat and save them from extinction.