That's right, the closest relative to the manatee is the elephant! The thick gray skin is perhaps the only obvious similarity between the two animals. The hyrax, a small furry creature, is also a close relative.
The Florida manatee belongs to the scientific order Sirenia and is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee. Other sirenians include the West African manatee, the Amazonian manatee and the dugong.
Photos (from left): African elephant, Carlos Reis/Flickr; Florida manatee, Amanda Cotton/iStockphoto.com; hyrax, Steve Harris/Flickr
You wouldn't think it to look at them but manatees have very little body fat and require water temperatures to be at least 68 degrees to survive. Three Sisters Springs, with an average water temperature of about 70 degrees, makes an ideal winter haven.
Florida manatees are capable of living in either salt water or fresh water and are found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals and coastal areas. They migrate to find warm waters as temperatures change throughout the year.
Manatees have no natural predators and do not prey on other animals; in fact, manatees are the only herbivores among marine mammals—yet another reason they are referred to as gentle giants.
Humans and habitat loss are the two greatest threats to manatees. The best known human threats are collisions with watercraft, but other threats include crushing and drowning in canal locks and flood control structures, and ingestion of fish hooks, fishing line and litter. Threats to habitat include development and pollution of seagrass beds by red tide as well as surface water runoff from construction sites and farms. Without these threats, manatees have a life expectancy of up to 60 years, although in the wild they average about 30 years.
The roped off area at Three Sisters Springs provides the manatees undisturbed space away from tourists.
Photo: Three Sisters Springs
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there are about 3,800 manatees in Florida. They are a migratory species, and often return to the same wintering areas year after year. More than 150 manatees congregate in the waters of Three Sisters Springs each winter. In summer months, they can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts, but summer sightings in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are more common.
"Angel" a 10 day old manatee swims with her mother and a female escort at Three Sisters Springs in March 2008.
The manatee is often called the "gentle giant" for a reason: The average manatee weighs between 800 and 1,200 pounds and is, on average, about 10 feet long. Not bad for an animal that eats only plants! They consume about ten to fifteen percent of their body weight every day, eating a variety of sea grasses and floating plants.
This adolescent manatee could grow to more than 1,000 pounds.
Photo by: Karen Nicolaon/iStockphoto.com
A. 200 pounds
B. 500 pounds
C. 1,000 pounds
D. 2,000 pounds
A. 3,800
B. 6,400
C. 10,300
D. 20,000
A. Alligators
B. Sharks
C. Both
D. Neither
A. Yes
B. No
A. Elephant
B. Seal
C. Sea lion
D. Walrus
Feel like testing your knowledge further? Save the Manatee Club has more quizzes on its website.
The Fund worked with numerous public and private partners for more than two years to complete a conservation project that protects a 58-acre property in Crystal River. The property, known as Three Sisters Springs, contains five pristine, naturally-occurring springs. An ecological marvel, Three Sisters is one of the state's last remaining urban springs. During the winter months as well as critical cold fronts, the springs are home to more than 150 endangered manatees, a beloved species known for being a "gentle giant." The property will be preserved from development and managed as a wildlife refuge.
Both conservationists and developers had been eying the Three Sisters property for decades. Development was a possibility as the property is situated in an urban area and had been zoned for 400 homes. However, this is a place that locals, visitors, and the landowner wanted to preserve.
“Three Sisters Springs was the National Wildlife Refuge System’s top land conservation priority in the Southeast and its critical importance to manatees was highlighted during last winter’s cold spell,” said Cindy Dohner, Southeast Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Read responses from our other partners >>
Visitors from all over the world travel to the area to see the manatees, providing a boon to the local economy and an opportunity to educate ecotourists about the ecosystem needs of the imperiled manatee population.
Back in 2005 the Fund started working with the landowner as well as several local and federal partners, to find a conservation outcome. The Fund worked on structuring and securing funding for a deal that would conserve the property.
“We finally did it,” said Matt Sexton, the Fund's vice president working out of our Florida offices. “This complex transaction required careful orchestration, but the overwhelming support kept it going. We’re thankful to all of our partners, especially those donors who provided support to the Fund, the landowners, for their patience and commitment to seeing this property preserved, and the community, who saw this as the last chance to protect the city’s namesake.”
Watch this video of manatees at Three Sisters Springs. Skip to 1:20 and see if you can make out the group of manatees resting in the shallow waters.
Three Sisters is a great example of how conservation efforts can require complex funding but are still very much achievable. Funding for the $10.5 million project came from a variety of sources:
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