Talk:Manatee

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 August 2021 and 6 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Alliekohl. Peer reviewers: Ossp001, Andy.thompson33.

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Citation

Where did the author get the information about the locomotion of manatees? It seems that they did not back up the information "They have been known to swim at up to 30 kilometres per hour" with any factual evidence. Because the statement also notes that the average movement of a manatee is closer to 5 kilometers, I have doubt about this notation . Hallehoward (talk) 18:54, 6 September 2016 (UTC)

I have tagged the statement - it certainly needs a citation. DrChrissy ^(talk) 18:14, 8 September 2016 (UTC)

I added the citation that I am sure the information came from, Hallehoward (talk) 17:42, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

clade

I don't know how to add this. Consider that the Manatee is distantly related to elephants. So if you can please add this to the templates. Template:Taxonomy/Paenungulata (edit)

see also: http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Paenungulata — Preceding unsigned comment added by 158.121.229.113 (talk) 20:47, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Hunting allusion

Hi.There's an allusion in the 'hunting' section here to Luke Strots, who appears to be a fictitious character someone enjoys slipping passing references to into varied articles. Someone might want to have a look at it. 195.149.121.254 (talk) 14:05, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Just wanted to say that this looks great!

Thanks! Several of us worked hard on creating the table. --maveric149

True or false??

True or false: manatees are extinct. 66.32.114.213 02:42, 23 May 2004 (UTC)

false, but they are on the endangered species list.

people did you know that manatees are endangered? If you want to help join the manatee corps now and let's save the manatees together!

Since the advocacy was started, I'll continue it, but with a different take...

Why don't you save something that actually needs saving, like sharks, Florida panthers, and countless other things. I know for a fact Manatees are not going extinct because I have lived in Florida on the water in the same place for over 50 years and have seen this with my own eyes!

The best available scientific evidence from state and federal agencies indicates that over the last 25 years, manatee populations have been increasing, not decreasing.

Florida's manatee protection programs, combined with federal protection efforts, have been a success leading to substantial increases in abundance. The "minimum" population counts from annual state surveys have more than doubled in the last ten years. In the report Manatees in Florida: 2001, peak counts from state and federal research for the last 25 years were used to develop a population estimate model.(1) A nonlinear (curve) equation was fitted to the "minimum" annual counts and other estimates for numbers of manatees from 1976 to 2001 (See Figure 1). The raw data and model clearly show an increasing manatee population. Instead of attacking the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with lawsuits and accusations of failure to protect manatees, the environmental and animal rights groups should be recognizing the state's management efforts which have led to a strong recovery of manatee populations.

http://ccaflorida.org/updates/Jan02-why_manatee.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.113.201.240 (talk) 16:54, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Translation of the week

Hi, as part of the Translation of the week series, I'm translating this article into Southern Min. It would be nice to know more about its physical features. Currently there's description of the tail (vis-a-vis dugong) and we know it can "reach 4.5 meters (15 feet) or more in length" (this latter part seems to refer to the Florida sub-species). A-giau 06:46, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

New to Wikipedia (and responding late to a much earlier piece!) but thought that this one was fascinating. There are extremely rare reports of dugong on the very southern coast of China. I hope that your Southern Min translation efforts will include the dugong. (During a recent trip to China I saw a Chinese alligator that was killed by locals - local teachers maintained that it was an exotic from the US, despite my best attempts to assure them that there were alligators in China. I would hate for the same fate to befall a dugong wandering in Chinese waters.)

Who is who

"The Florida Manatee is by some considered a distinct species, but ITIS treats it as a subspecies of T. manatus, and this is now usual. It can reach 4.5 meters (15 feet) or more in length, and lives both in fresh and salt water. It was once hunted for its oil and flesh but is now legally protected." Is this all Florida Manatee, or did we return to the Manatee in general somewhere? Aliter 00:38, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, the Amazon manatee only lives in fresh water, so presumably it must the Florida manatee.

--Anothercopywriter 20:59, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The West Indian manatee, Trichechus manatus, is a species distinct from the Amazonian manatee, T. inunguis, and the West African manatee, T. senegalensis. To the best of my knowledge, no scientist considers the Florida manatee to be a distinct species. Domning and Hayek (1986 Marine Mammal Science 2(2):87-144) and Hatt (1934 Natural History 66:533-566) agree that the West Indian manatee can be divided into 2 subspecies: (1) the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and (2) the Antillean or Caribbean manatee (T. m. manatus). However, recent genetic (mtDNA) research suggests that the West Indian manatee actually falls out into 3 groups, which are more or less geographically distributed as: (1) Florida and the Greater Antilles; (2) Central and Northern South America; and (3) Northeastern South America (Garcia-Rodriguez 1998 Molecular Ecology 7:1137-1149; Vianna et al. in press Molecular Ecology). Whether these 3 groups should be classified as 3 subspecies is currently debated among sirenian specialists. This recent research also discovered West Indian-Amazonian manatee hybrids near the mouth of the Amazonian River!

I believe that the largest Florida manatee on record was a 13' female weighing in at just over 3500 lbs. However this enormous size is rare. A more typical Florida manatee weighs 1000-1200 lbs and is about 10' long. In Belize, adults range from 8' to 10' and weight 800-1000 lbs. This may be more typical of the Caribbean (Antillean) subspecies. I'm not sure where the upto 15' came from. Caribbean manatees are still hunted (illegally) for their meat in the Wider Caribbean Region. http://www.sirenian.org Mermaid101 07:25, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Hey!

I love the site. I am doing a school project and I ran accross this, and I definitely will come back!

Were manatees once called "mermaids"? 65.8.115.110 22:05, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

                      -Northwoods122009       -Northwoods122009

Apparently there was some intial confusion amongst early seafarers regarding manatees. Columbus, on his first trip to the Caribbean, described manatees as mermaids and was disappointed that they were not as pretty as legend had made them out to be. I'm not aware of instances wherein manatees were once called mermaids, although Linnaeus and early taxonomists favored manatees and dugongs with the order "sirenia" after the mythological Greek sirens who lured sailors to their deaths with their songs.

On another note, the 15 foot manatee cited in the species account comes from a paper by Gunter, a mamalogist in the southern US who worked in the region from the 1940s and later. There's some thought that manatees could indeed reach this length in the past - nowadays most Florida manatees rarely reach 10 to 15 years of age and, therefore, don't reach their maximum growth potential. I believe that the most recent record length for a Florida manatee was 411 cm (whatever that translates to). The cited 3500 pound, 13 foot manatee was an anomaly - the measurements came from a fresh dead female carrying twin fetuses. The weight was atypical, although the length was within the range of some of the larger animals whose carcasses have been recovered.

Does Manatee live outside of the water as well?

Manatees (and dugongs) are mammals and must surface to breathe air. However, they are totally aquatic. In other words they spend thier entire lives in the water - they do not spend anytime on land. This is different from other marine mammals such as seals and sealions, which come out of the water to breed and birth thier young. Mermaid101 07:31, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Manatees are indeed aquatic animals and spend their lives in the water. However, there are specific instances wherein manatees (and possibly dugongs)come out of the water. Manatees occasionally beach and wind up in tidal pools and/or mudflats. When harassed, they may attempt to "pect walk" where they use their pectorals to get out of the tide pools or mudflats and back into the water. Estrous females, when pursued by amorous males, may attempt to elude their suitors by beaching themselves. Amazonian manatees, during drought periods, wind up in very shallow muddy stretches of water where they fast and wait for the rains to come. (That's apparently a very hazardous situation for them - they are very visible to locals who hunt manatees in these pools. I believe that there's also a paper documenting a manatee killed by a panther foraging in one of these pools.) Manatees in habitats where they must feed on fringing plants will occasionally pull their upper body onto the shore while feeding. Don't know much about dugongs, although there's an account of dugongs stranded on land due to a typhoon.

Marilyn Manson's Mystery Manatee

This line:

"Marilyn Manson is said to own a manatee (a West Indian Manatee to be precise) named Jamal who lives in his swimming pool"

was on the page toward the bottom until I removed it today.

It seems rather unlikely that Marilyn Manson owns a Manatee named Jamal that he keeps in his swimming pool. I haven't turned up any mention of this online-- if anybody has a reliable reference to this, please respond. Otherwise, it's just silly.

That fact is derived from an episode of British comedy Bo Selecta, in which Manson was lampooned in the show's spoof of MTV Cribs. Naturally, it isn't true.

Manatees have toenails?

Wait, what? Wouldn't the manatee be more related to, say, the dugong? Or, perhaps, the porpose or seal or dolphin or some other aquatic mammal? Wouldn't they be more closely related to whales than to elephants? Surely whales once came from the land, too, due to vestigal hind legs still existing in their skeletal systems, but I don't see why manatees would be at all closely related to the elephant. Can I see some sources for this claim in the "Genetics" section, please? -JC 07:17, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Manatees may be more closely related to elephants than whales and dolphins, I don't know. I removed the entire thing. I suppose elephants and manatees are both sub-ungulates, but I don't see that as signifigant. The closest living relatives of manatees are obviously dugongs, as they share an order. Revert (but add a source) if someone thinks it should be there. Thursday Postal 15:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

The manatee is more closely related to the dugong. But they are not more closely related to the whales than to elephants. Sirenians share a common ancestor with the elephant and recent genetic analysis confirms the relationship even better than does mere anatomical inspection (toenails, elephant-like skin, trunk-like lip formation etc). This is readily discerned by doing ANY level of casual research at all, as you can hardly find a source that doesn't claim a familial relationship exists between elephants, manatees and dugongs. If the information needs to be cited in order to appear here, than that's fine. But if you "don't see why manatees would be at all closely related to the elephant" than you must have, prior to posting a veracity challenge regarding manatee biology, arrived at everything you know about the manatee directly from this article, which is strange since you must necessarily have access to the rest of the internet. Rothic 15:04, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

A little bit of a late response, but I think this borders on breaking Wikipedia's civility policy. Do note that I didn't just go out and change it all in the article, nor was I attempting to sound accusatory (if I did, I do apologize). Hence all of the questions. I was just a bit confused, as it had said that Manatees had toenails, and I wasn't sure if that was truly the case. That's why I was particularly boggled, since I wasn't aware manatees had toenails. Since then I've found a little more about my favorite animal (and was surprised, but not unpleasantly so). So I was concerned a little bit and was hoping for some verifiable sources (since I can't just trust any old geocities page, obviously) about it. I wouldn't like it if someone added vandalism and everyone just kept it because it's shown up a few times on the 'net and was thought to be the case without any verifiable source... no harm in asking for some citations. That's all. Hope no hard feelings in any case, though. -JC 11:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Manatees are actually very closely related to the hyrax and the elephant. Although this seems unlikely as hyraxes are small, furry creatures, and elephants are large mammals with trunks, these facts are true and can be verified by 'save the manatee' and the 'defenders'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.233.175.153 (talk) 18:55, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Popular culture

[1]: Removed as nonnotable. Please don't let this degrade like llama or squirrel, where half the page consists of semi-notable media references and random trivia collections. There's nothing wrong with having a cultural references section, if it's on the level like that of rabbit for example. But I don't think explanations of obvious insults and cartoon side gags are of encyclopedic notability to this article. Femto 13:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I think that manatees' appearance on South Park should remain in the section, as it illustrates manatees' rising popularity and is simply an interesing tidbit.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Imaginate (talk • contribs) .

I tend to concur with Femto. Minor references are not notable. --TeaDrinker 23:59, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

If popularity is rising, the page may summarize that fact. But a listing of individual media references is out of place in this article. Details on fictional tanks at Fox Studios aren't even marginally relevant to the animal. Trivia could be included through a seealso link to a list of cultural references to manatees page, similar for example to the South Park references at list of cultural references to Stephen King. Sooner or later, someone will feel that The Simpsons are at least as notable as South Park and adds them to the list. Doubtlessly we'll see it grow with more random facts; I'd rather not. Femto 12:33, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Habitat

I never heard of Manatees living in the St. Lawrence River and am pretty sure this is wrong. They have been spotted in the Hudson River, which joins the Atlantic on the US East coast. To reach the St. Lawrence they'd have to go all the way up to Newfoundland. Anybody who knows something about this want to comment? -- Aepstein607 August 7, 2006

I think you're correct; the habitat does not extend that far north. I removed the uncited statement about it. There have, as you note (and is mentioned in the article) a few that have strayed north but not that far north and not permanently. There seemed to be a cryptozoological site [2] about a St. Lwrence population, but I am unaware of (and would be greatly surprised by) any evidence for resident populations there. --TeaDrinker 18:29, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

I live in Near the Hudson and yes, it was in the news that there were a couple of manatee sightings during the summer. They were only there for a short period of time though.

Conservation Zones

Hey i have a question about manatee conservation zones ok so why are people even allowed to to drive watercraft through these zones it doesn't make much sense to me Cause the name makes it sound like a wildlife preserve or are conservation zones just a name for a place where there's a heavy population of manatee in Florida--Zetsuie 17:41, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Water from a hose and lettuce?

In the disposition section it says "manatees enjoy drinking water from a hose and eating lettuce." I might be able to believe that manatees like eating lettuce, but drinking water from a hose? That seems rather far fetched. I am removing it. If someone wants to find a citation, then put it back up. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Onenotesymphony (talk • contribs) .

Even if a source were provided, I don't know that it is a terribly encyclopedic fact. I think removal is appropriate. --TeaDrinker 16:00, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

https://www.fox13news.com/news/fwc-warns-dont-give-manatees-water

they love hose water and its actually illegal to give it to them because it disrupts natural behaviors Graceare (talk) 16:46, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

They live in the sea/ocean so they are wild. If you capture them they will get over stressed, do if you want to go to "SeaWorld" and see them thats fine but they are wild animals so don't kill them... please, it's for the infiorment.

Indeed, manatees do enjoy drinking fresh water from a hose. They can even be baited with it.

I have given water from a hose to a manatee before. The manatee couldnt get enough of it. Looks like they love it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.164.46.251 (talk) 14:42, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't think the statement in question is aiming at the fact that they need a hose to drink water, but rather that they enjoy drinking it from a hose PrecociousPeach (talk) 12:45, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Page Vandalism

Anonymous user 201.224.171.194 has returned for the third time since August 7th to vandalize this page with a nonsensical entry of the word "Noor." Reference removed, page reverted. - Corporal Tunnel 15:29, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Eating manatees

I keep puting up "Eating Manatees" because it's true. I have verifiable sources, I have websites, books, and first hand accounts. Why is it being deleted? I have stated, that Manatees are not eaten any more, because they're endangered, but they used to be. --Adam Wang 16:18, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

If you have a verifiable source, add it back in an appropriate section and leave a source. Truth isn't as important here as verifiability, sadly, but information that can be verified and has some importance should be kept. As much as the thought of eating manatees makes me sad, Wikipedia is not censored just because I don't want to think about eating manatees :P -JC 16:41, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

From the same author of the twice-deleted Manatee Steak article. Any edible animal gets eaten by someone, somewhere. I've left two sentences. A reference for the fact doesn't automatically give encyclopedic notability to quoting recipes. Yeah, an image of a manatee with a badly photoshopped overlay of a t-bone steak is funny, once. Now cut that out and stop fooling around. Femto 12:25, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I have again reverted; while the section seems more encyclopedic, I think this discussion pushes me towards needing more citations for the section before it is included. --TeaDrinker 03:54, 16 August 2006 (UTC) As I look, the reference [3] provided does document the section, however it is virtually plagerized from it. Continuing to leave out the section. --TeaDrinker 04:10, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Merging

It has been suggested that Eating Manatees be merged with Manatee . I agree. I was done Eating Mantees when the merge was suggested. When i'm done, the article should be longer by at least 4 times. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MUBOTE (talk • contribs) .

Manatee meat

See also Talk:Manatee meat and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manatee meat

(Comment from AfD) - MUBOTE/Adam Wang, may I suggest you familiarize yourself with some basic editing guidelines. May I also suggest that you refrain from creating detailed content on manatee meat, until the topic was discussed at Talk:Manatee, a few more verifiable, reliable sources were provided, and some demand for the topic was determined in the first place. So far you're the only one who wants to create content on this, and your zeal is less admirable than it is suspicious.

I seem to recall the image of manatee meat in your first article was fake. The obvious t-bone nonsense not to mention. You uploaded a manatee cut chart 'made myself', which appeared before on a joke recipe site, whose text you also copied. You have "This user would like to eat manatees" on your user page. Historical facts aside, manatee meat is a running gag on the internet, and you provided no evidence that you're serious with this content. Femto 12:25, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

(From User talk:Femto) - I found several books on manatee meat, websites on manatee hunting, and other information. I'm fixing the copy vio. I don't write hoaxes. My cousin did, on my account, so I changed the password, and all the BS has stopped. This is not a hoax. Unlike things such as Beef, which are a major part of most cultures, Manatee meat is generally unique to the Carribean. Manatee meat is as much a part of Carribean culture as Frog legs are to the French, Dumplings are to the Chinese, and Pasta is to the Italians. Just because something is illegal, doesn't mean it is a hoax. Cocaine is illegal. If this article had no copy vio problems, and I research and add the sources, I see no problem with it. You may think it is a hoax, but there are many books that include information on the fact that manatees were eaten. And I didn't know I couldn't restart my talk page by the way. It said it was too long, so i opted to fix it. Sorry. Thank you for your time. --Adam Wang 02:24, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

More Sources

(From AfD) - Here are some more sources:

1. Here
2. Here
3. Here (From a Book)
4. A Book which states that manatees were eaten
5. Another Book, with text quotes
6. [http://books.google.ca/books?ct=title&q=manatee+meat&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0 Just search, " Manatee Meat," on google books, and see what you get.
7. Think Quest Site
8. A Book

• "Manatee meat and oil were once major consumer items throughout this mammal's entire range, and were regional and even international trade items from the 18th to the 20th centuries (and until very recently in some areas), but the now-depleted populations have shrivelled output. Poaching and a certain amount of illegal trading of manatee meat still persist in some isolated regions, spurred by the high unit value of the animal and its vulnerability to capture under certain circumstances (111, 245, 407, 545)." Courtesy of This Site.

--Adam Wang 02:02, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, manatees are made of meat and sometimes people eat them, that's what the sources say. I'd be fine with a short section on historical hunting at manatee, as cited by these sources.

But they don't say anything about barbeque, cholesterol, or garlic and onion recipes, which make up the most part of manatee meat. The rest is a detailed an unencyclopedic reproduction taken from one travelogue website about hitting manatees on the skull with a club. If this unsourced content is removed there only remain the two sentences that are already here.

That your cousin abused your account earlier to create BS on this topic doesn't exactly make it easier for you to prove your intentions now. For all I know, it could be a bet between you two on how much the BS content needs to be reduced before you can make the article get to stick as borderline encyclopedic.

I suggest that you propose content to be added here on the talk page first. You can also create a draft article User:MUBOTE/Manatee meat on a user subpage of yours for review. Please don't add this content yourself right away, but get second opinions from other editors and let them decide. Femto 12:34, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Manatees

Do not capture them because they will get over stressed and die.

Northern Manatee

Several times someone has added an extenal link to a geocities site which purports to save the St. Lawrence Manatee. I am somewhat incredulous that there are any manatee in the St. Lawrence river. Famously, Chessie (a stray, non-resident manatee) made it as far as New York. The winter temp. however does seem to prohibit year-round habitation. I would like some documentation from the scientific lit about manatees with cold-weather adaptationsliving in the St. Lawrence before the site is added back. Thoughts? --TeaDrinker 15:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

See also the "habitat" section above. --TeaDrinker 15:43, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

boat propellors and maiming, disfiguration & death

I was really shocked at what went on to this page, someone had entered the line "Their slow moving, curious nature, coupled with the dense concentration of humans along coastlines, has led to the species being damaged or killed by boat propellors." This was changed and watered down by an anonymous user 69.193.2.64 to "Their slow moving, curious nature, coupled with dense coastal development, has led to a number of harmful interactions with boat propellors".......harmful interactions?? first off you don't "interact" with a boat propellor. Second off, professional veterinarians refer to these occurances as maimings, disfigurations, and deaths, which is exactly what they indeed are, they do not say harmful interactions. The watering down of what actually happens to the manatees was disgusting editing and an example of "wikidoublespeak". The next thing we could do if editing behavior like this is at all tolerated is head to the 911 page, and add sentences like "the hijacking flying of several planes by terrorists displeased passengers led to a number of maimings, disfigurements, and deaths harmful interactions with buildings and the people that frequent them". Some may say the words "death or maimings" is POV, well indeed it is exactly what is occuring and is the proper term for such types of things, while you may not agree that the maiming, disfiguration & death of a manatee is any cause for concern, to wipe clear what actually goes on is disgusting and disgraceful-FreyasCrystalizedAngels 10:15, 16 March 2007 (UTC) The assertion that SMALL high speed boats are responsible for the propensity of scarring on the hides of Manatees neglects observation of marine engineering in order to multiply blame for recreational boaters for the scars and deaths. ALL small recreational boats with outboard and inboard outboard drives have a sharp fin [skeg] that protrudes to the lowest depth of the propeller. If the Manatees were being struck by the smaller high speed recreational boats the skeg would split the manatee from nose to tail instead of the spiral cuts resulting from the cutting action of the larger "V" drive vessels where the propellers have no gearcase and skeg in front of them. The evidence is irrefutable and the Enviromental Activists have even managed to have smooth bottom PWCs with no exposed propellers impacted with the Manatee zones. The reasoning given for including PWCS in the Manatee idle zones from the District Manager for FWC was that "There was a REPORTED injury to a manatee by a PWC". I asked him for documentaion and he said there was none. That does not seem like a reasonable way to regulate, using only heresay. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.59.218.164 (talk) 00:46, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Manatee's

Manatees have to be amongst the coolest creatures in the entire world. To think thousands of them regularly suffer horrific injuries and death from boats going to fast in too shallow water is extremely saddening. Surely laws are in place to protect this gravely threatened species? Italic text

First, I like how this isn't even timestamped. Second, apostrophes are not used to pluralize words. Third, this is Wikipedia, where anal-retentive editors with OCD don't give two bleeps about the NPOV statement "manatees are so cool." Fourth, of course there are laws protecting manatees. State, federal, and international laws. Lastly, unless there's a new and perverted sport I am unaware of, no one runs over manatees with speedboats on purpose. [insert facepalm and long sigh] PatheticManatee (talk) 23:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

US Centric

This article is far too US Centric. A lot is said about the Florida Manatee, but little said about manatees elsewhere. For instance the Population section doesnt cover the Caribbean at all beyond Florida. The habitat section only covers Florida with only a tiny blurb about Guyana. The page needs the US Centric tag placed on it, but I cannot recall the template name. Russeasby 14:02, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

I found and added the template. Russeasby 14:22, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

In one of the norwegian versions I made a tabular overview, sorted on country, of population data for each species. Could those fit in here? --Ekko 04:25, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Dwarf Manatee

An anon IP added a sentence about the discovery of a new species, the Dwarf Manatee. As near as I have been able to find, the only information on it in English is here. Any further information on it would be fantastic. --TeaDrinker 23:31, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I conferred with a biologist, and he wrote back that while he didn't know this field at all, the author van Roos seemed to be a controversial person. Summa summarum; use caution when referring to this finding. My advice would be that it is OK to refer to this internet site, but one should not treat this as a truth untill the new species is confirmed by a peer-reviewed journal. --Ekko 08:44, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Semi-protection?

Might it be time? In the past month there has been maybe 1 edit of over 60 that hasn't been vandalism/reversion. Eliezg (talk) 01:13, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Cape Cod?

What are the connections between manatees and Cape Cod? --Ekko (talk) 14:33, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

{editsemiprotected}

Snooty, the oldest manatee in captivity, is mentioned, but the name is not linked to the existing page for him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.46.76.37 (talk) 05:26, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Endangered Status

On many of the other pages regarding endangered animals (Pandas, African Bush Elephant, Tigers...) there is a Conservation Status chart attached to the general facts portion down the right hand side of the page. Why is there not one for the Manatee? I'm not sure of the coding, but I'm sure it could be easily added to the article, so people know at a glance what the conservation status of the manatee is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.82.184.211 (talk) 23:07, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Edit request on 18 December 2011

The manatee is not "fully aquatic" and is in fact technically considered a marine mammal.

71.52.120.53 (talk) 20:27, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, but I can't see any justification for the edit (it's also not clear what you want it changed to). The article already states that the manatee is a marine mammal - in the first sentence, no less - and the manatee is, indeed, fully aquatic, so we can't change that bit. Anaxial (talk) 21:53, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Missing species.

That actually makes five out of six known species that are still alive, one of which is a marine Manatee. The links are as follows: http://w3.shorecrest.org/~Lisa_Peck/MarineBio/syllabus/ch9vertebrates/mammals/mammalwp/barbara/class.jpg Amazonian_manatee West_Indian_manatee West_African_manatee Dwarf_manatee http://www.marcvanroosmalen.org/dwarfmanatee.htm I would appreciate some type of change to this page, as it is locked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Selsharesthan (talk • contribs) 18:03, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Link to other languages

Guys I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I noticed some kind of weird problem with this article: the link to the same article in other languages does not appear if you are not logged in. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gonamar (talk • contribs) 22:10, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 July 2014

It should be made more clear that the West indian manatee is divided in the Florida Manatee and the antillean manatee Robxwiki (talk) 20:22, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Anupmehra -Let's talk! 00:47, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 11 November 2014

Please add these sentences to the 'Ship strikes' co-section under the Relation To Humans Section

Recent testing shows that manatees may be able to hear speed boats and other watercraft approaching due to the frequency the boat makes. But they may not be able to hear the approaching boats when they are performing day to day activities or distractions. The manatee has a tested frequency range of 8 kilohertz to 32 kilohertz.

70.114.169.141 (talk) 00:26, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

@70.114.169.141:  Done -Fimatic (talk | contribs) 00:29, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

References

Semi-protected edit request on 11 November 2014

Please add these sentences to the 'Ship strikes' co-section under the Relation To Humans Section

Recent testing shows that manatees may be able to hear speed boats and other watercraft approaching due to the frequency the boat makes. But they may not be able to hear the approaching boats when they are performing day to day activities or distractions. The manatee has a tested frequency range of 8 kilohertz to 32 kilohertz.

70.114.169.141 (talk) 00:29, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

 Not done: you have not provided a source for the information you want added. G S Palmer (talk • contribs) 14:40, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Range and habitat

I feel as though the information pertaining to the Manatee habitat range is slightly unnecessary- namely: "Manatees have been seen as far north as Cape Cod, and in 2006, one was seen in New York City and Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, as cited in The Boston Globe. According to Memphis, Tennessee's The Commercial Appeal newspaper, one manatee was spotted in the Wolf River harbor near the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis on October 23, 2006, though it was later found dead 10 miles downriver in McKellar Lake.[citation needed]" Even though the Manatee may be found one time in this area that doesn't necessarily mean we add this small fact to Wikipedia, this is something that should be saved for a different website, or for an interesting fact page. We should only place facts that pertain to the actual biome of a manatee, and how far north MOST Manatees are found. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Billirish01 (talk • contribs) 17:24, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 February 2015

The Manatee is actually a in shape walrus 50.199.234.241 (talk) 16:37, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. NiciVampireHeart 18:27, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

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Recent Edits

I made a few contributions to the article as part of a class assignment.

First, I added information regarding the number of human-related deaths under the Additional Threats section, including that there are around 99 human-related deaths each year and that there have already been 43 manatee deaths in Florida, as of January 2016. Under the conservation section, I added information regarding the number of manatees recorded in Florida as of February 2016.

Second, I changed a source under the Red Tide section that had no mention of the information it was supposed to be citing. I replaced that source with another one that supports the information put forth. Under the Amazonian manatee section, I added a source for the species name and the description of the Amazonian manatee's habitat.

Kchampagne21 (talk) 05:54, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 November 2016

There is an error in the age of Snooty the Manatee. He is currently 68 years old. Please fix. Thank you.

Gorhamr (talk) 18:05, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

 Partly done I have removed the wrong age, not revised it, as it will be wrong again next year - Arjayay (talk) 18:15, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Miscellaneous suggestions

I enjoyed this article overall, but came across a few sentences that I think could use some improvement:

1) The introduction states that "The name manatí comes from the Spanish "manatí", derived from the Caribbean word sometimes cited as "manattouï"."

It seems that this sentence should say: "The name manatee comes from the Spanish "manatí" [. . .]," instead of using the Spanish name twice.

2) Since this article is about manatees in general, -- all manatee species, that is -- why does the "Behavior" section only mention the life span of the Florida subspecies?

3) The "Locomotion" section is too closely paraphrased. It is just a slight rearrangement of the information that can be found under the heading: Q. How long does it take for the manatees to get to their destination? of the cited source: http://www.savethemanatee.org/faqbehavior.htm. One difference I did notice, however, is that the cited source says that manatees can swim as fast as 32 kilometers per hour, but this number was adjusted to 30 kilometers per hour in the Wikipedia article. If this adjustment was intentional, I'd like to point out that making the data less precise is neither an ideal nor sufficient way to paraphrase.

Aaannnnnnaaa (talk) 04:38, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

etymology

The name manatí comes from the Spanish "manatí", derived from the Caribbean word sometimes cited as "manattouï". The etymology is dubious, with connections having been made to Latin "manus" (hand), and to a word used by the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning "breast".[2] The article linked to (footnote 2) says ' ... the Carib word manati means breast or udder. Sailors may also have thought the animals’ flippers looked like human hands, and named them after the Latin word manatus, meaning “having hands.”' This does not support the first sentence quoted from the article, and does not contain anything about the Taino. I suggest the 2 sentences quoted from the article be changed to The etymology is uncertain, with connections having been made to Latin "manatus" (having hands), and to Carib manati meaning "breast" or "udder". This would not go beyond the source given. --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 11:22, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

What they eat

"They often graze on water plants in tropical seas." What else do they do? Is the word "often" necessary? --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 11:29, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Manatees "no longer endangered"

Add to article? In various media, including: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/03/31/manatee-endangered-species-threatened-criticism/99867338/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.34.33.232 (talk) 17:45, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

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temperature

The article reads: "They cannot survive below 15 °C (60 °F)"

first, there's no source...

second: today on a documentary on TV they said 20 ºC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.83.159.73 (talk) 20:06, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Red Tide 2018

Are there any current death tolls on manatees because of the Red tide on Florida's west coast this summer? Chloeroot (talk) 21:17, 26 August 2018 (UTC)Chloeroot

Semi-protected edit request on 13 November 2018

I do not see a "Conservation Status" box below the manatee photograph and above "Scientific Classification." I believe the manatee may be an endangered species, so this is important. Thank you. RefractingDuck (talk) 04:05, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. DannyS712 (talk) 06:26, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

Range map confusing

Does not show N.American species being present inland, while they are found all throughout river networks at least in Florida. How can this be changed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.79.195.254 (talk) 19:51, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 July 2021

The last line of the article currently reads:

>>> A manatee was one of the animals supposed to have escaped from the Central Park Zoo in 1874, and is listed as "extremely dangerous".

This is misleading. The text implies that it is referring to a real escape. But it is only upon clicking into the hyperlinked text that it becomes apparent that the incident was a hoax. In addition, the word "is" should of course be changed to "was".

I propose this as a replacement sentence:

>>> A manatee was one of the animals supposed to have escaped from the Central Park Zoo in a hoax in 1874, in which the slow-moving somnolent fully-aquatic mammal was listed as "extremely dangerous". 80.6.233.241 (talk) 10:45, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

 Partly done: I opted to remove this sentence entirely, it's really not relevant to the article. ––FORMALDUDE^(talk) 21:32, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

Evolution

Please edit to remove redundant sentence.

>>> Fossil remains of manatee ancestors - also known as sirenians - date back to the Early Eocene.Fossil remains of manatee ancestors - also known as Sirenians - date back to the Early Eocene.<<<

Sorry if the format is bad. This is my first talk page edit request. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OKchaser2112 (talk • contribs) 05:53, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Repeated line

In the "Description" section, it says: "Fossil remains of manatee ancestors - also known as sirenians - date back to the Early Eocene.[14][15]Fossil remains of manatee ancestors - also known as Sirenians - date back to the Early Eocene."

jsyk 47.186.207.199 (talk) 21:15, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Resolved HalJor (talk) 21:18, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Finding paragraph on Manatee

I can't find a paragraph on Manatee that includes personification and alliteration. 208.131.191.55 (talk) 13:53, 12 February 2022 (UTC)

How do they breathe?

Most of the ocean mammals have blowholes. I'm guessing that the manatees do not, and breathe through elevated nostrils, butt hat should be included here. 70.50.4.84 (talk) 22:04, 18 May 2022 (UTC)

Possible missing header in Ecology section

I think it's missing a header to introduce the Floridian Gulf Coast.

I believe it would go between these two lines:

>>> "The coast of the state of Georgia is usually the northernmost range of the West Indian manatees because their low metabolic rate does not protect them in cold water. Prolonged exposure to water below 20 °C (68 °F) can cause "cold stress syndrome" and death."

and

>>> "Florida manatees can move freely between fresh water and salt water." Burgersprouts (talk) 19:09, 27 December 2022 (UTC)

I don't think that's right. The manatees of the Floridan Gulf Coast are West Indian manatees (Georgia is, after all, further north than Florida), which is what the section header refers to. Anaxial (talk) 19:13, 27 December 2022 (UTC)

Manatees

Baby manatees are the exact same as the adult manatees in fact they are the same thing as them but just smaller 2405:6E00:1198:8000:99FD:F315:7B09:17AD (talk) 11:33, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 April 2024

under the threats section, red tide subsection;

Add "Red tide killed 123 manatees between November 2022 and June 2023 to a red tide bloom." Graceare (talk) 15:26, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

 Done Antrotherkus 19:44, 9 April 2024 (UTC)