Sam Bizikovits, age 13, of Cleveland, Ohio, for his question:

Where do we find manatees?

The gentle manatee, also called the sea cow, is found in the shallow waters of certain bays, lagoons, harbors and river estuaries. He is a warm blooded, air breathing mammal, though he can never go onto the dry land. He is born, lives, and dies in the water where he spends most of his time feeding upon sea weeds.

There are manatees in the Old World and the New. We find them 3n the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, along the shores of West Africa and in the West Indies. In the New World, there are manatees along the shores of South America, Mexico, Florida d.nd the Carolinas. A sizeable male may be seven feet long and tip the scales at almost half a ton.