My family and I just returned from a vacation in Florida. When I was there, I saw a manatee. Can you tell me how they are able to gather their food, since they don't have hands? — Carl

Dear Carl,

You are right, manatees don't have hands. But they can use their front flippers to pull food toward their mouths. Mostly, however, they use their remarkable snout for this purpose. You see, God gave manatees a specially-designed upper lip that is split in the middle and can clamp onto plants like a pair of pliers. Manatees move along the bottom with their flippers, pulling water plants with their strong plier-like upper lip. It sounds pretty amazing, huh?