Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FLORIDA'S MANATEES
It's hard to believe Florida's West Indian manatees were ever mistaken for mermaids, but
it's easy to see their attraction: these gentle, curious, colossal mammals are as sweetly
lovable as 10ft, 1000lb teddy bears. Solitary and playful, they have been known to 'surf'
waves, and every winter, from November to March, they migrate into the warmer waters
of Florida's freshwater estuaries, rivers and springs. Like humans, manatees will die if
trapped in 62°F (17°C) water for 24 hours, and in winter Florida's eternally 72°F (22°C)
springs are balmy spas.
Florida residents for over 45 million years, these shy herbivores have absolutely no de-
fenses except their size (they can reach 13ft and 3000lb), and they don't do much,
spending most of each day resting and eating 10% of their body weight. Rarely moving
faster than a languid saunter, manatees even reproduce slowly; females birth one calf
every two to five years. The exception to their docility? Mating. Males are notorious for
their aggressive sex drive.
Florida's manatees have been under some form of protection since 1893, and they
were included in the first federal endangered species list in 1967. Manatees were once
hunted for their meat, but today collisions with boats are a leading cause of manatee
death, accounting for over 20% annually. Propeller scars are so ubiquitous among the liv-
ing they are the chief identifying tool of scientists.
Population counts are notoriously difficult and unreliable. In 2013 a bloom of red tide al-
gae in Southwest Florida and illnesses caused the death of over 800 manatees - a whop-
ping 16% of the total population of these gentle giants. At the time of writing there were
at least 4800 manatees left in the state.
Wildlife
With swamps full of gators, rivers full of snakes, manatees in mangroves, sea turtles on
beaches, and giant flocks of seabirds taking wing at once, how is it, again, that a squeaky-
voiced mouse became Florida's headliner?
To learn about the incredible efforts to save the whooping crane, visit Operation Migration
(
www.operationmigration.org
)
, a nonprofit run by Bill Lishman, whose techniques inspired
the film
Fly Away Home
. Another resource is
www.bringbackthecranes.org
.
