manatee

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various herbivorous aquatic mammals of the genus Trichechus, having paddlelike front flippers and a horizontally flattened tail and found in warm coastal waters of Florida, northern South America, West Africa, and the Caribbean.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A sea-cow; a gregarious herbivorous aquatic sirenian mammal, of the genus Manatus, family Manatidœ, and order Sirenia. The American manatee, to which the name was originally given, and to which it specially pertains, is Manatus americanus, australis, or latirostris, whether of one of two species. The manatee inhabits the shallow waters of rivers and estuaries on the eastern coast of tropical and subtropical America, from Florida and some of the West India islands to about lat. 20° S. It is a sluggish, timid, and in-offensive animal, found in small herds, feeding on aquatic vegetation, and attaining sometimes a length of 8 or 10 feet. In general aspect the manatee resembles a small whale or other cetacean, but it belongs to a different order, though it was formerly considered a herbivorous cetacean. The body is naked and stout, shaped like that of a fish, without trace of hind limbs, ending in an expansive shovel-or spoon-shaped tail; the fore limbs are flippers or paddles without outward distinction of digits, but with flattened nails; the eyes and ears are small; and the whole physiognomy is peculiar, owing to the tumidity and great mobility of the muzzle. There is an entirely distinct species, Manatus senegalensis, found on the western coast of Africa, to which the name extends.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several plant-eating marine mammals, of family Trichechidae, found in tropical regions.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) Any species of Trichechus, a genus of sirenians; -- called also sea cow.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. sirenian mammal of tropical coastal waters of America; the flat tail is rounded