i hand-fed four manatees at the zoo today. they are such gentle, kind-eyed creatures, and all the more so for their size, surprisingly graceful when they swim - not the streamlined arrow-slicing of the sealions, but slow, arching movement - mesmerising and perhaps even whale-like. crouching on the rocks by the pool i lowered my hand into the water and they came one by one for their snack. first the pug-nosed faces with small, wise eyes were raised, and then, astonishingly, the lips - were they lips? - broke apart sidewise and gathered the potato chunk to them, and you felt the thousand light scratches of - what are they? teeth? whiskers? on your palm as they ate and you loved them.