Manatees are sometimes known as ‘sea cows’ and they are one of the most delightful creatures to be found anywhere in Florida.  They are very gentle sea creatures and are mainly herbivores.  They graze in the shallow waters off the coast of Florida, or else in the rivers.  They eat many different plant types including mangrove leaves, and even certain types of algae.  If you take a very close look at their faces you will notice that they have a divided upper lip, which enables them to eat the plant easily.  Amazingly, an adult manatee can eat nearly 9% of its body weight each day, which could amount to around 30 pounds in weight.  They only have 6 teeth which continuously fall out and are then replaced.

Manatees can grow up to a length of between 9 feet and 10 feet and can weigh up to 1200 lbs, with the females being the heaviest.  They do not swim very fast, usually around 3 to 5 miles per hour, although they can swim at a speed of up to 15 miles per hour for short periods of time.  The manatee uses its paddle shaped tail to propel itself along, as it glides through the water.

A baby manatee weighs a staggering 15 pounds and an adult can live for anything up to 60 years.  They only breed every other year, as their gestation period lasts around 12 months.  They give birth to just one calf, which feeds from its mother for up to 18 months.  In fact, manatees are quite intelligent, and can demonstrate the sort of task learning and discrimination usually associated with dolphins.  They also show signs of having a long term memory as well as being capable of understanding discrimination tasks.  Unlike dolphins however, the manatee is generally a solitary creature and spends most of its life on its own.

Florida is the ideal location for the manatee to live as they have a low metabolic rate, which means that they cannot endure cold temperatures.  Indeed, they cannot survive at temperatures below 15 degrees Centigrade, so they migrate up warm spring fed rivers during the winter months.

If you want to see manatees in the winter then Crystal River and Blue Springs are the places to go.  Here, the water is maintained at a constant 22 degrees Centigrade all year round, so the manatees congregate around these warm springs.

Sadly, manatees are quite vulnerable.  Although they have few natural enemies apart from sharks, whales, crocodiles and alligators, it is man made dangers that are the main problem.  Manatees are particularly susceptible to injury from boats and their propellers.  Many manatees carry the scars of altercations with motor boats, and wounds are often fatal.  In fact, it is illegal under Florida law to cause manatees injury or harm.  Nevertheless, whilst the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission do not recognise them as being endangered, they have to be protected, and so they have been declared by them to be ‘threatened’ although under federal law they are still endangered.

If you are lucky enough to visit Orlando in the winter months, from mid November, then do take the opportunity to go and visit one of their winter habitats.  They are delightful and non aggressive creatures which are quite curious.  A visit to Crystal River or Blue Springs will be well worthwhile, as manatees congregate in waters warmed by the springs.  You can even swim with them here.

We visited Crystal River a short while ago and took a tour to swim with the manatees and it was a totally wonderful experience and we can highly recommend it.  The trip starts very early (around 6.30 am), as this is the best time to see them in action.  You are provided with a wet suit, fins, snorkel and even an underwater camera to take some memorable photos.  Bouyancy aids are available for people who are not strong swimmers.  We were taken out into the river where the Manatees live and found them around 20 minutes later.  Please be aware that there is no guarantee that you will see them although most days they will be there.  The captain stopped the boat and we descended into the very, very cool waters to take a look around.  The captain of the boat only makes one trip a day and so we were able to spend as much time as we liked in the water.  We had around two hours and were not pushed to return to the boat at all.  We swam around with the Manatees, stroked them and took photos.  We really would recommend this trip to everyone.

Believe it or not, the manatee, or “Sea Cow” is a distant cousin of the elephant, and scientists have traced them both back some 60 million years to a common ancestor. Their forelimbs contain three to four fingernails, very similar to an elephant’s.

Manatees are herbivores, eating only aquatic plants, and typically grow to about 2,000 pounds and almost 12 feet. Unhappily, their backs often bear the marks of boat propeller scars, as they tend to graze near the surface of shallow water. They have no natural predator, but contact with humans (and their boats!) along with loss of feeding grounds (also down to the humans) has made them an endangered species

So Where Can I see Manatees in the Orlando area?

The easy answer, of course, is at Sea World, but it might be more fun to see them in the wild. We have seen manatees on the Gulf Coast where they congregate around docks in the summer months, and around the Merritt Island area by The Kennedy Space Center.

In the cooler months, however, the ocean gets too cold for manatees, so they look for warmer waters. They typically come to inland Florida waters via rivers and canals.

The best place to see manatees inland is at Blue Spring State Park, just off the St. Johns River  (you can get there on the I4), between November and March. There they have a boardwalk which gives perfect viewing.

If you want to get up close and personal, go to the Crystal River area, and go snorkelling or rent a small boat. As many as 300 manatees winter in the Crystal River area on the West coast, 80 miles north of Tampa, and less than 2 hours from Orlando. Again, the best time is from late November until the end of February and it is recommended to avoid weekends if you want to avoid the crowds.

Strangely enough, the Tampa Electric Company is a great place to see manatees during the colder weather. The company’s Big Bend Station on Tampa Bay attracts manatees in winter to its warm-water discharge and they have built a special manatee viewing centre with a viewing platform, open from early December to March (closed Monday and Tuesday). From the I-75 in Tampa take the ApolloBeach exit onto Big Bend road. The viewing centre is at a turn after the road’s intersection with U.S. 41.

Happy mermaid hunting!

Andy Brownlie