Steve Oliver, age 10, of Concord, California, for his question:

What is a sea cow?

Naturally you know that the seahorse is a fish, just a few inches long. Sea cucumbers are not vegetables and sea lilies are not flowers. These provable facts should prepare you to question the sea cow. It comes as no surprise to learn that she is not related to a dairy cow    or to any other cattle type cow that lives on the land. Actually the family tree of the sea cow is shrouded in mystery and scientists doubt that her ancestors ever set foot on the dry land.

Our native sea cow is the manatee. She has a seal like head and whale like body. Often she has rolls of blubber around her neck that may resemble a pile of old auto tires. She can be 15 feet long and she needs to eat 60 to 100 pounds of food every day. She dines on the water weeds that clog shallow lagoons from North Carolina to the tip of Florida. The manatee lives on the fringes of warm seas and eats vegetation like a cow. Actually she is an air breathing mammal and she can stay below as long as four minutes.