Spirit Animal

I'm not sure why this is, but apparently people hate manatees. How could you hate manatees? Look at that thing. I've always loved manatees, the reasons are endless but stem from a wine-laden night and a comparison of our giant schnauzer Cyrus to a manatee. This came from our dear family friend Mike, who made this statement with all the flourish of important discovery. When I was teaching kids english in Japan and forcing them to tell me their favorite animal (Typical response: I like dog. I like cat), I would say "I like manatees." And they would make that noise and give me that look and then I would draw one on the white-erase board and there was that light-bulb moment, ohhhhhh, dugong. And I had this great manatee key chain for a really long time, it would come detached from the ring and then I would find the manatee in random places, car, home, ground, until finally one day I didn't.
This comes up due to the spirit animal discussion that has been prevalent at work lately; I'm designing a t-shirt for our upcoming team-building event. My immediate response of manatee received violent negative reaction from coworkers and friends: their slow-moving nature, their resemblance to cows (they are referred to as the gentle sea cow), world's dumbest animal with tiniest brain, and their inability to avoid being hit by boats.
They didn't evolve with speed boats. They can't help it. And I love them. However, I am open to suggestions regarding my spirit animal. Please know that this would be in appearance only, a one-time shirt thing, my alliance to the manatee has not faded.