Manatee

Manatee, any individual of the Sirenian genus Manatus, with three species - M. australis, from the rivers on the west coast of tropical South America, M. inunguis, confined to the Amazon and Orinoco, and M. senegalensis, from West Africa. The maximum length may be put at about eight feet, and the colour is bluish-grey above, lighter below. They frequent estuaries and lagoons, and feed on aquatic vegetation. The manatee differs from the dugong (q.v.) in the incisors, in both sexes, being replaced in the adult by horny pads, and in the greater number of the molars. The tail is rounded, and there are rudimentary nails on the digits. The flesh is eaten, and fat yields a valuable oil, and the skin is made into leather. Specimens have been exhibited at the Brighton Aquarium and the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park.