African manatee

The African manatee is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, an IUCN threatened category, and its lifespan is given as 22.65 years, with values up to 30 years.

Weight

454 kg – 477 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

22.7 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

30 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

388 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

1src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

3 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Active

Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active

Lifestyle

Marinesrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The African manatee is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderSirenia
5. familyTrichechidae
6. genusTrichechus
7. SpeciesTrichechus senegalensis Link, 1795

Synonyms Trichecus senegalensis

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

VU, Vulnerable

West Indian manatee

Trichechus manatus

Trichechidae

VU, Vulnerable

Amazonian manatee

Trichechus inunguis

Trichechidae

D

Dwarf manatee

Trichechus pygmaeus

TrichechidaeNo free photo yet

T

Trichechus hesperamazonicus

TrichechidaeNo free photo yet

CompareAfrican manatee vs West Indian manateeAfrican manatee vs Amazonian manateeAfrican manatee vs Dwarf manateeAfrican manatee vs Trichechus hesperamazonicus

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{african_manatee_2026,
  title = {African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-manatee},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}