Manatees

Young Manatee calf about 8 months old.

I took my backpack along on my bike ride today and stopped in at Round Island to see what the ospreys were up to.  As I crossed the pedestrian bridge over to the island, I noticed that there were quite a few manatees frolicking right under the bridge below me.  So, I took a few pictures.

Even though you usually see manatees almost any day at Round Island Park, it is rare to see them this close and in such large numbers like there were today.  I guess there were probably about 20 close to the bridge.  And they were quite playful for some reason.  I have been following a couple of twin calves that were born this spring to this one cow.  Manatee twins are rare so when these two are around they're very noticeable.  They were born this spring so I'm guessing they're about 8 months old.  Calves will nurse for a couple of years, so they'll be with mom for a while yet.

Recently I flew over to Crystal River, Florida to visit a friend and we went out on his pontoon boat to photograph the manatees. The water there is aquifer-spring fed and thus very clear as you can see from the photos below.  The manatees there appear to be different to me.  I'm not sure if it's the clear water or if these manatees are genetically different. But they seem larger and more aerodynamically shaped, if you know what I mean.

Crystal River, FL, notice the fresh-water spring in the background.

A couple of West Florida manatees in the Crystal River.

Back at Round Island here on the east coast of Florida (see below), notice how much murkier the water is here compared to the Crystal River. We will begin to see the manatee population increase now as the cooler weather drops water temperature and these mammals seek shallower, and thus warmer, water. Round Island Park is a natural for them. It is shallow and protected on all sides from the wind.

Manatee twins and mom at Round Island.

Two manatee adults at Round Island.

One of the twin calfs at Round Island Park.

One interesting fact about manatees is that they will venture into the ocean to migrate on occasion. I always thought they remained in the river, but recently I was at a party over at Felton's oceanfront condo when all of a sudden someone yelled, "Sharks!" It turned out to be about a dozen manatees cruising right off shore in the surf moving slowly from north to south. So I guess they would have been migrating from the Sebastian Inlet to the Ft. Pierce Inlet. One of the guests was a biology teacher and manatee expert, and she promptly ran down to the beach and got into the surf with them for a close encounter. Cool.

As always, click on a picture to see it in full size.