A record number of manatees were seen sunbathing in a shallow Florida channel over the weekend, marking a promising turn for the threatened species.
Authorities counted 932 sea cows swimming Sunday at the site of Blue Spring State Park, a warm refuge for the mammals located 30 miles north of Orlando.
The figure broke the park’s previous record of 736 manatees seen at the site in a single day, which was last New Year’s Day, park officials announced.
Exciting photos from the record-breaking morning show showed dozens of manatees enjoying the crystal-clear waters surrounded by the sanctuary park’s lush foliage.
A live-streaming underwater camera spotted dozens of others hiding below the surface, but strong winds made it difficult, and potentially impossible, to count every manatee swimming in the channel.
“There’s a good chance there were many more there, crowded together, so we couldn’t identify them,” the Save the Manatee Club said.
Officials counted 932 sea cows swimming Sunday in the mid-spring run at Blue Spring State Park. Facebook/Blue Spring State Park
The record was recorded on what officials described as the “coldest morning of the season so far.” The nearby St. John River temperature was a relatively cool 58.8 degrees, prompting the nearly 1,000 manatees to seek warmth in the park’s waters, which run at a constant 72 degrees year-round.
Sea cows congregate in shallow waters from mid-November to March because they cannot tolerate water temperatures below 68 degrees for long periods.
Marine mammals only have about an inch of blubber and are prone to cold stress syndrome, which is “comparable to hypothermia, pneumonia, or frostbite in humans and can make them very sick,” according to Blue Spring State Park.
Manatees flock to the spring’s constant 72-degree temperature whenever the river temperature drops below 68 degrees. TNS The record was recorded on what officials described as the “coldest morning of the season so far.” YouTube/Explore Oceans The huge total broke the park’s previous record for manatees seen swimming in the spring race in a single day, which had been set just weeks earlier. Facebook/Blue Spring State Park Manatees are considered a threatened species. AP
Manatees, considered a threatened species, have been slowly recovering in numbers.
More than 550 manatees died in Florida in 2023 due to boating accidents, disease and starvation. But that was a decrease from the 1,027 who died in 2021, state Fish and Wildlife data shows.
Their numbers are now so encouraging that wildlife officials suspended a two-year experimental feeding program in December after discovering that the seagrasses the manatees depend on had begun to recover in key winter feeding areas along the coast. this one and there seemed to be fewer manatees. in poor physical condition facing the stressful colder months.
The problem of hunger is due to nitrogen, phosphorus and wastewater pollution from agriculture, urban runoff and other sources that trigger algae blooms, which in turn kill the seagrasses on which manatees and others depend. Marine creatures.
Florida’s total manatee population is estimated at between 8,350 and 11,730 animals.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn