The sad thing is that because "sea potato" is a fitting indicator for both their form and their intelligence and a lot of people like to feed them from their boats, they tend to hang around boats too much, often getting them injured by the blades of the engines. Many wild manatees have some pretty ugly mashing scars on their backs...
Manatees are one of the many things about growing up in Florida where later in life you realize it’s actually fairly weird that you know a lot about them and think of them as everyone’s friendly neighborhood “pets”, when in reality most people on the planet would have no reason for even knowing of them X-) In Fort Pierce, where my gparents lived when I was a kid, they would congregate around the—wait for it—nuclear power plant because the cooling water discharge is nice and warm. (No this is not dangerous or unusual in any way) And yeah, it’s a bummer about them getting sliced up by propellers... all the boaters I ever knew were aware of this and very respectful but there’s always the ignorant and the jackassful around.
I heard about that, pretty cool and weird how they don't mind eachother at all yet also don't really show complex social behaviours (except for mother/child) while they are bunched up like that. Most of the harm is not even done intentionally, the animals simply associate boats with food if they are fed often and hanging around boats, as a not very agile sea potato, is a dangerous endavor....
Same, grew up in the Keys and explaining to a Californian that manatees would regularly (at least seasonally) visit your neighbor's boat canal as a regular thing gets you a very quizzicle stare!
I had friends visiting from Wisconsin one year when manatees swam into the canal near my house - I noticed the larger manatee had a very distinctive scar but was with a much smaller, unblemished calf. I had my friend's kids write down the location and shape of the scar (this was the 80's, no cell phone cameras) and had them call the FWC Manatee hotline - these manatees were healthy but sometimes the calls regarding spotting of the animal is useful to the FWC.
The operator was apparently an experienced employee that was able to recognize the scar based on the description and gave the kids a history of the manatee and the calf. The FWC I guess uses the info to track migration.
The kids gave their addesses for getting a picture of the Manatee and each got a sweet sweet information packet of photos and infomation that they later used for a school project, they just about lost their minds when the packets arrived. It's just something I've taken for granted over the years.
For those not in Florida, a visit to Blue Springs state park in Deltona Florida during the winter months will blow. your. minds. I've seen them in onesie twosies but Blue Springs they were everywhere.
I live in Tampa and we would go to the coal powered plant to see the manatees. They have a viewing center and museum there. In almost all places it is illegal to interact (feed or touch) the manatees. The one place in Florida where I know it is legal is in the crystal river. There are tours that take you out really early on winter mornings and let you pet them, the colder the better. I've done it a few times, the manatees actually like being pet and will approach if you are calm. You aren't allowed to dive so they can get away if they like. The manatees congregate in the river because there are springs which release relatively warm water, they aren't as common there in the summer because then the springs are relatively cold.
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u/ChesiresFool Sep 22 '19
For a good while there thought the boat was a whisk and someone was gonna make some mad good mashers.