One of the local peoples--the people who in my story "New Day Dawning" formed the Solimões Sodality, actually--have a story about a creature that's half tapir and half manatee, that represents the connectedness of the water and the land. Every time a tapir dies, a manatee is born, and vice versa. They say that river dolphins and humans have the same relationship.

(And thank you--me too!)