328 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sent 



AMERICAN MANATEE 



Found in the Amazons River. The Manatees differ remarkably from the Dugong in the number and structure of their teetft 



case in the limbs of the whale. The body of the dugong is almost smooth, though there are 

 bristles in the region of the mouth: that of the manatees is studded with short hairs. The 

 male dugong has two large tusks : in neither sex of the manatees are such tusks developed. 

 Finally, a more detailed examination of the skeletons would reveal the fact that, whereas the 

 dugong has the usual seven bones in the neck, that of the manatees has only six. 



When we come to the Whales, we shall encounter that very characteristic covering known 

 as " blubber " ; and, though it is present in smaller quantity, these sirenians have blubber as 

 well. Complex stomachs they also have, like the whales, only in their case both the nature 

 of the food and the structure of the teeth point clearly to a ruminating habit, which, for 

 reasons that will be given in the right place, seems inadmissible in the whales. In both 

 dugong and manatees the mouth is furnished with singular horny plates, the precise use of 

 which does not appear to have been satisfactorily determined ; and the upper lip of the 

 manatee is cleft in two hairy pads that work laterally. This enables the animal to draw 

 the grass into its mouth without using the lower lip at all. 



In their mode of life the dugong and manatees differ as widely almost as in their 

 appearance; for the former is a creature of open coasts, whereas the manatees hug river- 

 estuaries and even travel many miles up the rivers. Of both it has been said that they leave 

 the water at night, and the manatees have even been accused of plundering crops near the 

 banks. The few, however, which have been under observation in captivity have always been 

 manifestly uncomfortable whenever, by accident or otherwise, the water of their tank was run 

 off, so that there is not sufficient reason for believing this assertion. 



This group of animals cannot be regarded as possessing any high commercial value, though 

 both natives and white men eat their flesh, and the afore-mentioned rhytina was, in fact, 

 exterminated solely for the sake of its meat. There is also a limited use for the bones as 

 ivory, and the leather is employed on a small scale, a German writer has, in fact, been at 

 great pains to prove that the Tabernacle, which was 300 cubits long, was roofed with dugong- 

 skin, and the Red Sea is certainly well within the animal's range. 



