other plants, all of which are eaten under water. First, it uses its 

 hand-serving flippers to draw the selected morsel within convenient 

 range; then, the nourishment must be tender as well as toothsome, 

 for in place of front teeth, with which to bite off its food, it is 

 taken by the two curious flap-like contrivances which form the upper 

 lip. Upon the approach of the flippers, these are distended and suck 

 in ; as it were, the bit of leaf or grass presented to them, after which 

 the flaps close up the opening and that portion of the meal is secure. 

 The manatee does not take kindly to captivity and, although occa- 

 sionally displayed in exhibitions, usually lives but a short time. In 

 the study of these animals, no one has ever heard a specimen emit 

 any sort of a sound. 



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