A manatee is a large, slow sea animal. It has flippers, a big flat tail, and a round body, and it eats plants in warm, shallow water.

A manatee is a large, slow sea animalmanatee是一種體型大、動作慢的海洋動物 It has flippers, a big flat tail, and a round body牠有鰭狀肢、一條又大又扁的尾巴，還有圓圓的身體 and it eats plants in warm, shallow water在溫暖的淺水裡吃水草

People sometimes call it a sea cow, because it grazes the way a cow grazes grass. Manatees live in the Caribbean, around Florida, and in some rivers such as the Amazon; they are not fish, and they come up for air.

People sometimes call it a sea cow大家有時候叫牠sea cow（海牛） because it grazes the way a cow grazes grass因為牠吃草的樣子就跟牛吃草一樣 Manatees live in the Caribbean, around Florida, and in some rivers such as the Amazonmanatee生活在加勒比海、佛羅里達附近，還有像亞馬遜河這樣的一些河流裡 they are not fish, and they come up for air牠們不是魚，需要浮出水面呼吸

Sailors’ stories sometimes mixed them up with mermaids — though actually, once you have seen one, the round snout and whiskers do not look like a person at all. A close cousin, the dugong, lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans, nearer to Taiwan; a manatee is the Atlantic and American one.

Sailors' stories sometimes mixed them up with mermaids水手的故事有時候會把牠們跟美人魚搞混 — though actually, once you have seen one,——不過實際上，只要你真的看過一次 the round snout and whiskers do not look like a person at all那圓圓的鼻吻和鬍鬚一點都不像人 A close cousin, the dugong, lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans, nearer to Taiwan牠的近親儒艮，生活在印度洋和太平洋，離台灣比較近 a manatee is the Atlantic and American onemanatee則是大西洋和美洲那一種

The name came into English from Spanish manatí, from a Cariban-language word meaning “breast,” because the mother feeds her young from teats on the chest.

The name came into English from Spanish manatí,這個名字是從西班牙語manatí進入英語的 from a Cariban-language word meaning "breast,"而manatí又來自加勒比語系裡意思是『乳房』的一個字 because the mother feeds her young from teats on the chest因為母獸是用胸前的乳頭餵小孩