Abstract
THE Zoological Society have added to their living collection in the Regent's Park a young specimen of the Manatee (Manatus americanus), which those who wish to have an opportunity of inspecting an extremely curious form of Mammalian life should take an early opportunity of visiting. The Manatees belong to the order Sirenia of naturalists, and are sometimes called “herbivorous Cetaceans,” although it is, to say the least, very doubtful whether they have any near relationship whatever to the true Whales or order Cetacea. These creatures were abundant in former geological epochs, but since the extermination of the Rhytina, or Steller's Sea-cow, at the latter part of the last century, have only two representatives still living on the earth's surface, viz. the Manatee of America and Africa, and the Dugong of the Indian Ocean.
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The Manatee . Nature 39, 585–586 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/039585a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/039585a0