Range and Habitat
African manatees can be found in much of the western region of Africa, such as in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Not only are these manatees found in many countries, but also in bodies of water ranging from brackish to freshwater. They can be found in oceans, rivers, lakes, coastal estuaries, reservoirs, lagoons, and calm shallow bays on the coast. However, a limiting factor of where the African manatee can live is temperature. It is very rare to find an African manatee in water with a temperature below 18 °C (64 °F).
Some are located along the west coast of Africa, in the southeastern and central eastern waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Manatees have been found as far offshore as 75 kilometres (47 mi) out, where there are shallow coastal flats and calm mangrove creeks filled with seagrass. Lakes where they dwell include Lake Volta, Inner Niger River Delta in Mali, Lake Léré, and Lake de Tréné. Due to fluctuating flow rates and water levels in rivers, some of these permanent lakes serve as refuges, during the dry season, to manatees in connecting rivers. From north to south, the river systems that they can be found include the Senegal, Saloum, Gambia, Casamance, Cacheu, Mansôa, Geba, Buba, Tombali, Cacine, Kogon, Kondoure, Sierra Leone, Great Scarcies, Little Scarcies, Sherbro, Malem, Waanje, Sewa, Missunado, Cavalla, St. Paul, Morro, St. John, Bandama, Niouniourou, Sassandra, Comoé, Bia, Tano, Volta, Mono, Oueme, Niger, Mekrou, Benue, Cross, Katsena Ala, Bani, Akwayafe, Rio del Rey, Ngosso, Andokat, Mene, Munaya, Wouri, Sanaga, Faro, Chari, Bamaingui, Bahr-Kieta, Logoné, Mitémélé, Gabon, Ogoué, Lovanzi, Kouilou, Congo, Dande, Bengo, and Cuanza. They go up these rivers until they are unable to proceed due to water that is too shallow for them to swim through or strong waterfalls they cannot pass.
One way African manatees are like West Indian manatees is they both need habitats with protected water and access to food and fresh water. They occasionally journey to less-sheltered areas. Of all of their habitats in Africa, the most populated areas seem to be Guinea-Bissau, the lagoons of Côte d'Ivoire, the southern portions of the Niger River in Nigeria, Sanaga River in Cameroon, coastal lagoons in Gabon, and the lower parts of the Congo River. A study was done in Côte d'Ivoire to find where most African manatees favoured living. They were radio-tagged and tracked, and then they were sighted the most in coastal lagoons with plenty of their main food source, mangroves and other herbaceous growths. They were also found in grass-lined estuaries of big rivers with plenty of mangroves, and in protected coastal spots with less than 3 metres (10 ft) of water, again, with bountiful mangroves and also marine macrophytes.
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