- The name manatee probably comes from the Carib language. Their word "manati" means "woman's breast."
- No one knows exactly how many manatees exist in the world.
- A manatee can move one side of its lip pads independently of the other side.
 Manatees do not have eyelashes.
- Manatees breathe on the average of every three to five minutes. When they are using a great deal of energy, they may surface to breathe as often as every 30 seconds.
- Manatees can swim up to 20 mph, but they usually swim at about 5 mph.
- Manatees sometimes groan when they stretch.
- Flatulence is common in manatees.
- By identifying manatees at different winter aggregation sites, scientists have ascertained that, while some manatees change sites, most manatees revisit the same winter sites.
- Florida manatees and Antillean manatees are both subspecies of the West Indian manatee. Although they both look alike, the two populations don't intermingle. Subspecies ususally evolve from a single species as a result of geographic isolation. How could plate tetonics have played a part in this?
- The chewing rate of a manatee has been timed at 2 chews per second.
- The manatee's closest land relatives are the elephant and hyrax (a small furry animal that resembles a rodent).
- Shakespeare refers to manatees as "sea maids" in A Mid-Summer Night's Dream.
- In 1875, Jules Verne wrote about manatees in his book, The Mysterious Island.
- A manatee's heart beats at a rate of 50 to 60 beats per minute.
- A manatee's heart rate decreases from 50 to 60 beats per minute to about 30 beats per minute during an 8-minute dive.
- Each breath of a manatee renews 50% of the air in the lungs.
- A manatee's teeth are constantly replaced, so it is impossible to tell a manatee's age by this old technique.
- Sirenians are the only aquatic mammals that are herbivores.
- A manatee cannot turn its head sideways, so it must turn its whole body around.
- A female manatee who was seen with her calf in the Jacksonville area was rescued from an oil line boom, and 2 months later was identified by her scars. She was over 300 miles away from where she was first sighted.
- The manatee's rib bone is solid, there is no marrow. It is thought they make red blood cells in their sternum where it is known there is marrow.
- Manatees have a nicitating membrane that can close over their eyes for protection when they are under water.
- The word "sirenia" derives from the sirens of Greek mythology. The sirens were said to lure ships onto the rocks by their mesmerizing songs.
- Water conducts heat away from the body of a mammal up to 25 times faster than does air.
- A manatee's age can be determined by the annual growth rings in their ear bones.
- Of all the mammals in the world, manatees and sloths are the only mammals with six cervical (neck) vertebrae. All other mammals (even giraffes!) have seven cervical vertebrae.
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