Manatees spend 6–8 hours a day feeding on submerged and floating aquatic vegetation, which contain large amounts of roughage. Our manatees chomp on similarly high-fibre and low-calorie Chinese cabbage, banana leaves and elephant grass.
They are known as sea cows because they spend half of the day grazing on sea grass and aquatic plants. A manatee's daily food intake is typically 4–7% of its body weight. A 500kg manatee would eat 20–35kg of food in a day.