A manatee is a large, gentle, plant-eating marine mammal that lives in warm coastal waters and rivers. It has a rounded body, paddle-like flippers, and a flat tail.
Probably from a Caribbean language word, such as the Taíno 'manatí'. European explorers borrowed the term when they first described these animals in the Americas.
Manatees may be the real animals behind old sailor legends of mermaids—imagine months at sea and a quick glimpse of a manatee from far away. Their closest land relatives are actually elephants, not whales or dolphins.
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