West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus).
Image: Rathbun Galen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
At a glance
- IUCN category
- VU · Vulnerable
- Animal group
- Mammals
- Population trend
- Decreasing
- FaunaHub record reviewed
- Checked against IUCN
- Matches source — IUCN's 2024 global assessment of Trichechus manatus says VulnerableChecked 2026-10-09 against IUCN's Red List export published 2026-07-28 · assessment
Conservation overview
The West Indian manatee is a large, gentle, plant-eating marine mammal, including the well-known Florida manatee. It is assessed as Vulnerable.
It grazes water plants in warm shallow coasts and rivers and must avoid cold water.
Range & habitat
Coastal and river waters of the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Central and South America.
Major threats
Threats below are drawn from the authoritative sources listed on this page. For the current, complete assessment, see the IUCN Red List.
- Boat strikes
- Habitat loss and cold stress
- Entanglement
Why it matters
A slow-moving coastal grazer, the manatee is a flagship for protecting warm-water refuges and reducing boat collisions in busy waterways.
Gallery
West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus).
Image: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources
Sources for West Indian Manatee
- IUCN Red List — look up West Indian Manatee (authoritative status)
- Animal Diversity Web