A FLORIDA MANATEE 



Manatees are still found in a few of the inlets and bayous of Florida, and probably could be 

 domesticated in many of the lakes. In captivity they eat almost any vegetable food that is 

 offered, and are extremely docile. The specimen here shown is kept in a tank by Capt. C. H. 

 Thompson of Miami. Photograph by David Fairchild. (Fig. 3.) 



connected with some other animal. It 

 is entirely inoffensive and is unable even 

 to resist attack. Its survival in the 

 struggle for existence is due to the fact 

 that it never frequents the open seas, 

 but stays in shallow water, where it is 

 safe from predatory denizens of the 

 deep, and being unable to go on land, 

 it has escaped the ])ursuit of the land 

 carnivores. 



The animals is entirely herbivorous, 

 and what is more strange, does all its 

 eating under water. This is possible 

 because the upper lip is cleft, and the 

 lip i^ocket, together with the mouth, 

 forms a combination similar to a canal 

 lock system In captivity, it will eat 

 l)ractically all vegetables and even 

 i^read. 



Immediately beneath the inch-thick 

 skin is a layer of blubV^er averaging I}-) 

 inches in thickness. Beneath the latter 

 is the meat, all of which is equally 

 edible. The meat surrounds a skeleton 

 of very simple construction, comjirising 

 a skull, vertebral column and strong, 

 massive ribs, of great density. 



The manatee has been observed as 



far north as Virginia, through the West 

 Indies and in Florida, along the Gulf 

 Coast and Mexico, and down the coast 

 as far as the twentieth degree of south 

 latitude. It ascends rivers for great 

 distances. Since Captain Dampier, the 

 explorer, speaks of the animal in the 

 Guatemalan lakes, it is probable that 

 it covild exist in domestication in the 

 Florida lakes equally well. 



DR. bell's statement 



Dr. Alexander Graham Bell whites: 

 "These huge and inoffensive creatures 

 were fairly swarming in the rivers, bays 

 and lagoons of Florida when the white 

 man first came to America. In count- 

 less herds they grazed ujjon the sea 

 weeds and water ])lants, iust as the 

 buflfalo grazed ujjon the jjlains of the 

 West. The flesh of the manatee was 

 much ])rized and the creature was also 

 valuable for its hide and oil. It was 

 not found in the open sea far away from 

 land, but inhabited the shallow waters 

 in bays, lagoons and estuaries of rivers. 

 "It was an animal of from 9 to 12 



M2 



