Editing African manatee (section)

==Reproduction==
The sex of an individual African manatee can only be determined by close examination of the manatee's underside. The only visible distinction between males and females is the genital openings. However, males tend to be smaller than females. Some female African manatees are sexually mature as young as 3 years of age, and they give birth every 3 to 5 years of their estimated 30-year lifespan. Males take a longer time to mature (about 9 to 10 years) and can rarely fertilize an egg at the age of 2 or 3 years. African manatees breed year-round. When males and females mate, it is not monogamous; multiple males will usually mate with one female.<ref name="SeaWorld"/><ref name="MammalsOfTheWorld">{{cite web|last = Jefferson|first = T.A.|author2 = Leatherwood, S.|author3 = Webber, M.A.|title = Trichechus senegalensis|publisher = nlbif|url = http://wbd.etibioinformatics.nl/bis/marine_mammals.php?menuentry=soorten&id=152|access-date = January 8, 2011|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302094801/http://wbd.etibioinformatics.nl/bis/marine_mammals.php?menuentry=soorten&id=152|archive-date = 2014-03-02}}</ref> When the opportunity to mate with a female is at stake, males will fight with each other by pushing and shoving. Female African manatees give birth to one calf at a time after about a 13-month pregnancy. Calves can swim on their own at birth. Although the African manatee's social organization is not well understood, research shows the most common and tightly knit bonds are between a mother and her calf.<ref name="EOL">{{cite web|title=Trichechus senegalensis|publisher=Encyclopedia of Life|url=http://eol.org/pages/328645/details|access-date=January 7, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305113132/http://eol.org/pages/328645/details|archive-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref>