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Manatees

Manatees Along the River Rhine between Mainz and Koblenz and hidden somewhere on the 430 foot cliffs, beautiful, mysterious, wicked sirens lure boaters and their crafts to death and destruction on the cliffs. The sirens were the Lorelei. Aphrodite’s fishtail portion of her body was allotted to lesser deities called Tritons. Tritons, male and female, rendered service and homage to Aphrodite. Early mariners were prepared to encounter mermaids and mermen in different forms at sea. These mariners found their mermaids in dugongs and manatees, the Sirenians. It is difficult to understand how mariners could mistake manatees for mermaids. The manatee is a mammal that looks like an aquatic version of an elephant. The manatee’s skin is grey to grayish brown or light to dark grey with a pink belly patch. There are barnacles and scattered hairs on the back. The manatee’s front flippers are used for steering and are paddle-shaped. There are forelimbs inside each flipper and toenails like an elephant’s on the outside; however, there are no visible toe divisions on the skin of the flipper. Its tail is round and flat. The tail propels the manatee through the water slowly, but if startled, the manatee can reach speeds up to 35 mph for short distances. The West Indian manatee can be up to thirteen feet in length and up to 3500 pounds. Its prehensile mouth parts are like an elephant’s trunk, except the manatee’s “trunk” is not as big and is bristly and split. The manatee is an aquatic mammal that lives in water 3 to 10 feet deep. The West Indian Manatee resides in the rivers of Central Florida, along the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Coast. The Amazonian Manatee exists only the Amazon River system, and the African Manatee occupies the rivers of tropical West Africa. The water in which the manatee dwells can be no colder than 68 degrees Fahrenheit. If the water is cold in the Gulf, the West Indian Manatee will usually migrate to Kings Bay, where there is a constant water temperature of 72-73 degrees and the underwater plants are a plentiful food source. There are two reasons for migration. The first is water temperature. If the water temperature drops, the manatee could catch a respiratory illness, the most common cause of natural death among manatees. The second reason is the need for low salinity drinking water. Power plants, such as Florida Power & Light, provide sanctuary in cold weather. Patric Rose, Marine Mammal Coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), wrote in Life Magazine, “Wouldn’t you go to a power company if you were cold?”(Clark 32). Some manatee sanctuaries are Crystal River, Blue Spring Run, and Kings Bay. Most of the day manatees spend eating. Eating usually takes six to eight hours. Manatees usually consume 10 to 20 percent of their body weight in food each day. Manatees eat submerged vegetation like hydrilla, ribbon grass, turtle grass, and manatee grass. Manatees are primarily vegetarians. Their protein intake is mainly tiny animals in the grass and the algae that they eat. Miami Seaquarium was spending about $2400 per month on manatee food. The Facility now uses commercially available hydroponic units. These units grow dense mats of various grasses for food. Using these units cut their costs by one-third. Despite its large size, the manatee is not an aggressive animal. A report from Caloosahatchee River said that manatees were very curious and friendly. They lingered near the boat, studied the people in the boat, and clung to the anchor line. Manatees are very gentle and have never been known to attack for any reason. Sometimes they are so tame and trusting, it is not healthy for the animals. Even though manatees are friendly and gentle, they are usually solitary. If some manatees are grouped together, called semi-social groups, it is because they are at the same place by chance. Bulls usually group when a female is ready to mate. If the manatees are in a group, they are very playful. They hug with their flippers, kiss, do somersaults and headstands. Just like children, manatees play tag, chase, and bump each other. Manatees are slow to reproduce. They usually have one calf every two to five years. When a cow is fertile, bulls gather to court her. The bulls may follow her for weeks until she chooses. While the bulls are together, they do not fight, although they do push and bump each other. When the cow is pregnant for twelve to fourteen months, she consumes a large amount of food. When it is near birth time, the cow finds a private place to have her calf. At birth, the calf weighs sixty to seventy-five pounds. The cow and calf talk with squeals and squeaks. In a time of danger, the cow puts herself between and calf and the danger or urges the calf to safety. Even to save her own calf, she will not fight. The cow and calf stay together for two years as friends and playmates. The strongest relationship in manatee society is between the cow and her calf. The bull doesn’t care for the baby and the cow and bull do not stay together after mating. Miami Seaquarium has been very successful with breeding and raising manatees. The first calf ever to be conceived and born in captivity was a female named Lorelei. Juliette, a cow at the Miami Seaquarium had the shortest calving interval (time between one calf’s birth and the next calf) ever recorded at just fifteen months. If captive manatees reproduce faster, this could increase annual reproduction. Manatees are one of the most endangered species in the United States. With no claws or other weapons and teeth only suitable for grazing, manatees are defenseless. Their only defense is to swim away In 1987, the DNR found 113 manatee bodies. Some deaths were natural, others were not. The number one cause of natural manatee deaths is a respiratory illness. Some reports say attacks of sharks and crocodiles have happened, but Daniel S. Hartman wrote this has not been proved. In the wild, the manatee has no natural enemies. In the spring of 1996, a mysterious plague hit the manatee population. This plague was characterized by red, inflamed, bleeding lungs. Ken Hagstad, Chief of Florida Marine Research Institute, said, “This is the greatest single mortality of manatees that we’ve ever recorded.” (Luoma, 180) The epidemic began in early March. By mid-month, thirty manatees were dead. By April 27, 157 had died. Joy Mills, a spokeswoman from Florida Department of Environmental Protection noted, “We’ve been looking for things like Morbillavirus, which is similar to the virus that causes distemper in household pets. Frankly, we’re baffled, and the sad reality is that even if we find out what it is, we might not be able to stop it.” (Luoma, 181). In 1995-96, nearly 400 manatees died from exposure to red tide, a toxic algae bloom. Scientists believe the blooms were more concentrated because of pollution and that the pollution may have decreased the manatee’s natural resistance to the disease. Man and man-made things are the greatest threat to the manatee. A speeding motorboat outranks all other hazards. Other unnatural deaths occur from crab trap lines and discarded fishing lines, lures and hooks. Manatees get the crab trap lines wrapped around their flippers and get tangled in them. They get hooks in their skin, which usually causes an infection leading to death. Swallowing hooks, lures, or lines often leads to an agonizing death. Another problem for the manatee is being trapped in flood gates, resulting in drowning. People first killed manatees for their tasty flesh, bone, quality oil, and tough hide for leather. Even though manatees are very gentle and friendly, people have in the past speared manatees with pitchforks for no other reason except its size. Despite all of the hurdles, many people, organizations, and laws are trying to make a difference in the survival of this animal. It is the State’s responsibility for the protection of manatees. In Florida, there are two major organizations that are responsible. They are the DNR and the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. The DNR designated Blue Spring Run a manatee sanctuary in 1978. This was the first place in Florida where boats were prohibited and swimming restricted for the welfare of the manatee. Federal efforts toward manatee protection began March 11, 1967, when the animal was listed on the Endangered Species List under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (P.L.89:80 Stat,926). Florida State Law (Ch. 4208.94) has protected the manatee since 1893. This law made a fine of $500 and or six months in prison for molesting and or killing a manatee. This law was amended in 1953 to allow capture for scientific knowledge. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 (P.L.92-522;80 Stat:1027) established a national policy to protect and encourage development of stable populations. The manatee was a designated marine mammal under this act. The MMPA prohibits taking any marine mammal from its environment, and violators can be fined up to $2000 and up to one year in prison. Under this Act, a violation was to harass, harm, pursue, kill, hunt, shoot, capture, or collect an endangered species. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 increased federal protection for listed species. The Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978 amended the 1973 Act by declaring the entire State of Florida as a refuge and sanctuary for the manatee. This Act provides for boat speed regulation in thirteen manatee areas between November 15 and March 23 each year. “The challenge of recovering the manatee population is ‘mind boggling,’ but not impossible. Coordinated efforts of local, state, and federal teams will be necessary.” (Zeiller 133-34). Sea World of Florida is the main rescuer of manatees. Other rescuers include Miami Seaquarium, Disney’s Living Seas at EPCOT Center, Disney World, Lowery Park Zoo, and Homosassa Springs State Park.. Support for these rescuers come from many private groups such as, Save the Manatee Club, Audubon , and Florida Power & Light. Also popular public personalities, such as Jimmy Buffett, and private citizens also support these conservation efforts. The objective for the manatee is to be downlisted from “endangered” to “threatened” then to not be on these lists at all. The long range goal is to maintain the “health and stability of the marine ecosystems and to maintain (manatee) numbers at optimum sustainable population levels”(Zeiller, 68). “For in the end, we will conserve what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” -Baba Dioum African naturalist Bibliography: Works Cited Clark, Margarett Golf. The Vanishing Manatee. New York, Cobblehill Books, 1990. Internet: "The Trouble With Manatees" and "The Florida Water Story." March 29, 1998. www.yahoo.com search=manatee. Luoma, Jon R. "What's Killing The Manatees?" Audobon July-August 1996: v98 n4 p180-183. Odell, Daniel K, Ph.D. "Manatee." World Book Encyclopedia. 1998. O'Keef, M. Timothy. Manatees Our Vanishing Mermaids. Lakeland, Florida. Larsen's Outdoor Publishing, 1993. Zeiller, Warren. Introducing The Manatee. Jacksonville, Florida. University Press of Florida,1992.

Word Count: 1782