In the wild it is hard to determine if animals have cordial interactions with other animals. Manatees spend most of their day sleeping and eating. Would you want someone to bother you while you are sleeping and eating? I think it is safe to say you would not appreciate being awoken by another animal and you surely don’t want other animals stealing your food.

But there are a couple of animals that manatees have interactions with on a daily basis.

Alligators, to us, are very scary and we think they would be a threat to manatees, you know-with their big chopping teeth. But the truth is they are not bothered by the manatees and they leave them alone. The manatees on the other hand are very curious about alligators and can often times be seen following them around. Alligators are typically not fond of this, but they are faster and can outrun the slow moving manatee when they have had their fill.

Another animal that can be seen having interactions with manatees is the armored catfish. If you could imagine the cat fish in your fish tank as a child, they enjoyed eating the algae around the tank. Armored Catfish are no different, they are typically seen trying to eat the algae off the manatees.

This will annoy the manatee and could be bad for their health if they are trying to rest in the winter season. Manatees are very sensitive creatures and need to get their rest as they cannot repopulate without rest, and they need to repopulate so they are n longer on the endangered species list.

You may see some of these animals interacting with the manatees while you’re out on one of our tours– keep an eye open to see the social life of the manatees!