In Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Seal,” the animal mentioned by Kotick is the Sea Cow.
Kotick is a young northern fur seal who searches for a beach where seals will be safe from hunters. During his travels, he encounters creatures of the northern seas and learns about places that may offer refuge. The Sea Cow is one of the named marine animals connected with the story’s exploration of ocean life.
Kipling’s “The White Seal” was published in The Jungle Book in 1894, but it is separate from the Mowgli cycle. Its setting is the Bering Sea and the Pribilof Islands, not the Indian jungle.
The answer is often confused with dugong because “sea cow” can be used as a common name for several sirenian animals. In Kipling’s story, however, the capitalized name is presented as “Sea Cow,” a character-like marine creature.