Even the big 12-foot alligator will give way to the manatee. Patrick Rose, Aquatic Biologist and Executive Director of the Save the Manatee Club
November is Manatee Awareness Month. Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammal and are listed as treated at the federal and state level.
Want to know more? Some facts according to Aquatic Biologist, Patrick Rose, include:
— Manatees are known as sea cows but are more of a distant relative of the elephant
— They usually travel in small groups through the shallow coastal waters
—They are vegetarians
— They can weight up to 1300 pounds and measure up to 13 feet long
—They move like a dolphin in slow motion
— When an alligator is in its way, a manatee bumps or nudges them to move
— Manatees face threats of collisions with boats, habitat loss, cold stress, toxic effects of red tide and other algae blooms
I’ve been fortunate to see manatees in the wild. They are truly the gentle giants of Florida’s waterways.
Information for this blog was taken from Coastal Breeze newspaper
Affirmation: I will help to keep manatees safe
Coaching question: Learn something new? I hope so. How do you embrace the natural world around you?
Life after losing a mother 