A silent inhabitant of the Florida waters, the Manatee is a massive grey mammal with whiskered snouts. These gentle giants are closely related to elephants and sometimes called "sea cows." The average manatee is roughly 10 feet long and can weight up to 1,000 lbs. To sustain such an immense weight, they spend an average of 6-8 hours eating ocean vegetation. Eating up to 15% of their body weight a day. The rest of the day is spent either resting or lazily traveling through the warm shallow waters of Florida's coast. Resembling a seal, Manatees have large forelimb flippers that allow to maneuver and "walk" across the ocean floor. They can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes at a time, before breathing through nostrils with sealed caps locating on top of their faces.
Manatees prefer warm shallow areas. They are commonly found in rivers, canals, and estuaries with a bed of sea grass beds. In below 68 degree waters, Manatees will not eat and develop cold water stress, commonly resulting in death.
Recently, causes beyond natural deaths, the Manatee population has become endangered. Human interaction is calculated as being responsible for 43% of manatee deaths. Fisherman who carelessly dispose of fishing lines and nets can result in the entanglement of the fins and tails of the manatees, leading to infectious gashes. As manatees must surface for air, speed boats have become a serious threat as they can collide with the surfacing manatees. These boats will likely kill manatees on impact, if not contributing to deadly lacerations to the manatee's heads and backs.
Things are, in fact, looking up for the Florida Manatees. Local groups such as the Save the Manatee Club are making great efforts to preserve and protect the habitat of the native Manatee. Raising awareness to boaters and fishers in the area has caused immense changes in the safety of the Manatee. Lets hope we have the opportunity to view this graceful creature!
Dolphins and Porpoises
The dolphin is the most iconic animal of the Florida waters. Dolphins belong to the Cetacea order, along with whales, dolphins and porpoises. Bottlenose dolphins are the most common found in Florida. They can be found all over the world, from Southern California to New Zealand all the way up to Norway. They travel in groups, called pods. These teams of dolphins work together in order to trap and capture their prey. Dolphins have the ability to acoustically scan underwater, revealing to them the landscape and other animals near by, called echolocation. This ability helps to not only detect prey but to also communicate with each other. They have sharp teeth, like their relatives the Orca, and consume mostly fish or squid. They do not, in fact, swallow their food, instead they swallow it whole. They have specialized muscles on the back of their tongue in order to squeeze the salt water from the prey before swallowing it down. Bottlenose Dolphins are incredibly playful, sometimes found catching free rides off the wakes of boats, or playing underwater games with each other. They have become so popular that Dolphin Interactions has become its own mass industry. While these experiences allow for more interaction and research with the animals, it has become an over powering industry that leads to the removal of hundreds of these animals every year from their habitats.
DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER, 58901 Overseas Highway, Grassy Key, FL 33050-6019
305-289-1121 www.dolphins.org
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