Manatee
any individual of the genus Manatus, more particularly M. australis (americanus), first discovered by the early Spanish colonists. Manatees are found in the creeks, lagoons, and estuaries of some of the West India islands, on the American coast from Florida as far as 20° S., in the great rivers of Brazil, on the coast of Africa from 16° N. to 10° S., and in Lake Tchad.
They are slow and inactive and quite inoffensive; they browse on aquatic, preferably fluviatile, plants in shallow water. Their numbers are rapidly diminishing, as they are hunted for the sake of their skin, the oil they yield, and their flesh.