Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. Growing up in South Florida, I saw
Speaker 1: a lot of PSAs about how to watch out for
Speaker 1: and avoid harming manatees in our local waterways. I could
Speaker 1: still sing some of the jingles for you, but I won't.
Speaker 1: You're welcome. I never ran across one in the wild,
Speaker 1: but it's hard not to feel protective of these ponderous
Speaker 1: aquatic mammals in all of their bumbling bulk. Manatees are
Speaker 1: herbivores that migrate around networks of shallow, calm, warm, mostly
Speaker 1: fresh waters, including rivers, estuaries, canals, coastal areas, and saltwater bays.
Speaker 1: There are three species of these slow, sizable swimmers, the
Speaker 1: Amazonian manatees, which hang out along the Amazon River, the
Speaker 1: West African manatees, which swim the west coast and rivers
Speaker 1: of Africa and the Floridian and care be and manatees,
Speaker 1: which live along the America's East coast from Virginia to Brazil.
Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on How Stuffworks.
Speaker 1: Spoke by email Shyanne Canon and now the program project
Speaker 1: coordinator at the Save the manatees club, She said. Fossil
Speaker 1: remains of manatee ancestors show that they have inhabited Florida
Speaker 1: for about forty five million years. Modern manatees have been
Speaker 1: in Florida for over one million years, probably with intermittent
Speaker 1: absences during the Ice Ages. The present Florida manatee is
Speaker 1: a subspecies endemic or native to Florida. Genetic studies indicate
Speaker 1: that it is not derived from the populations in Mexico
Speaker 1: or Central America, but more likely colonized Florida from the
Speaker 1: Greater Antilles thousands of years ago after the last Ice Age.
Speaker 1: See lore has it that sailors used to mistake manatees
Speaker 1: for mythical mermaids. That's why the taxonomical order they belong
Speaker 1: to is named Synia, after the sirens of Greek mythology.
Speaker 1: Manatees have rod heavily whiskered snouts. Their long, round bodies
Speaker 1: come to a taper at a flat, paddle shaped tail.
Speaker 1: Their two flippers each have three to four nails. Their
Speaker 1: tough skin is gray and wrinkled, and they are as
Speaker 1: cute as they are corpulent. At birth. They can be
Speaker 1: as big as four and a half feet long. That's
Speaker 1: one and a half meters and weigh some sixty five
Speaker 1: pounds or thirty kilos. When they're fully grown, manates can
Speaker 1: weigh around one two hundred pounds or five hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty kilos and reach ten feet or three meters in length.
Speaker 1: The largest of the species can grow to twice that
Speaker 1: weight and an extra three feet or meter in length,
Speaker 1: Cannon said. New research has indicated that manates have very
Speaker 1: sensitive body hairs, which are able to detect subtle changes
Speaker 1: in water movement around them. Scientists had previously wondered how
Speaker 1: manates might navigate, as their eyesight isn't very good and
Speaker 1: the manatees eyeballs, positioned far back on both sides of
Speaker 1: its head, are slightly larger than marbles on such an
Speaker 1: enormous body, The dark orbs measure under an inch in
Speaker 1: diameter about two centimeters. They're about half the size of
Speaker 1: human eyeballs, but manatees bodies are, as said above, much
Speaker 1: larger than ours. They can't perceive colors outside of blues
Speaker 1: and greens, and tend to be near sighted. The shallow
Speaker 1: waters they live in are often murky, so it makes
Speaker 1: sense that they didn't waste too much evolution on their eyes.
Speaker 1: Those sensitive body hairs of theirs are called vibrissi. They're
Speaker 1: rooted in blood filled follicles that trevor nerve impulses when
Speaker 1: the hairs are touched or moved. The follicles connect to
Speaker 1: around fifty nerves each, which signal the brain of the
Speaker 1: increased pressure from any surrounding motion. Manates also hear far
Speaker 1: better than humans. They do best at higher frequencies, communicating
Speaker 1: with each other through calls and whistles. Scientists are investigating
Speaker 1: how well manates can detect low frequency sounds and if
Speaker 1: they use their vibrasi to do so. With adaptations like these,
Speaker 1: manatees naturally compensate for their blackluster vision. But okay, what
Speaker 1: are manatees like? Cannon said, Manates are incredibly calm and
Speaker 1: curious animals. In fact, they can be so curious that
Speaker 1: they find themselves in dangerous situations, such as approaching a
Speaker 1: boat in the wild. Manatees are typically independent, but they're
Speaker 1: not territorial and can be found in large groups in
Speaker 1: warm water springs. Manates are not aggressive at all and
Speaker 1: have no natural predators. They interact peacefully with alligators. Manates
Speaker 1: spend most of their time either resting or traveling with
Speaker 1: a lot of eating along the way. They forage sea
Speaker 1: grass or freshwater vegetation wherever they go. An adult manatee
Speaker 1: can eat a tenth of its own weight in twenty
Speaker 1: four hours, which can be a problem if that plant
Speaker 1: based diet becomes scarce. From December of twenty twenty through
Speaker 1: April of twenty twenty two, which was to be fair
Speaker 1: a difficult time for most of US, a joint state
Speaker 1: and National Wildlife Working group documented an unprecedented number of
Speaker 1: manatee deaths from starvation due to a loss of forage
Speaker 1: plants along Florida's East coast. It seems that water pollution
Speaker 1: had been killing off the beds of sea grass that
Speaker 1: manatees Grayson. However, they've been able to turn this disaster
Speaker 1: around in the years since by providing immediate help in
Speaker 1: the form of supplemental feeding and animal rescue and rehabilitation
Speaker 1: of plus long term support through habitat restoration and ongoing
Speaker 1: surveys of manatees migration, and health. They were able to
Speaker 1: close the case in twenty twenty five after having recorded
Speaker 1: no manatee deaths from lack of food in two years.
Speaker 1: While adult manatees are too large to have natural predators
Speaker 1: and can live for up to sixty years or more.
Speaker 1: Their lives are often cut short due to human related causes.
Speaker 1: The number one Culprit Watercraft Cannon explained manatees spend majority
Speaker 1: of their time in shallow water, especially in Florida. Boats
Speaker 1: are common in these same shallow waters. Boats present two
Speaker 1: threats to manatees. The boat propeller, which can cut a
Speaker 1: manatee multiple times, causing devastating damage, and the boat hull,
Speaker 1: which can cause severe blunt force trauma if the boat
Speaker 1: impacts the manatee at a high speed. If you're ever
Speaker 1: headed out on a boat in known manate territory, make
Speaker 1: sure to stay in deep water when possible, and practice
Speaker 1: common sense and take a few precautions. You can look
Speaker 1: up tips, but basically obey posted speed zones, aware polarized
Speaker 1: sunglasses to reduce glare from the water, and keep a
Speaker 1: lookout for manatees with a designated spotter if possible, especially
Speaker 1: when you're starting up your motor. Canon said the best
Speaker 1: thing that boaters can do to help protect manates is
Speaker 1: to boat carefully in areas where manates are common. Voters
Speaker 1: should also obey all posted speed signs. Manate zones are
Speaker 1: researched extensively for their importance to manatees and the likelihood
Speaker 1: that manatees will be present. Manate Zones are not decided
Speaker 1: willy nilly. Voters can also keep an eye out for
Speaker 1: manatees that may need help, such as lone calves, amanatees
Speaker 1: with fresh wounds, or manatees that may be cold stressed,
Speaker 1: and report them to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Speaker 1: While manatees have been known to be at risk for decades,
Speaker 1: hence the creation of these Save the Manateque Club in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one by singer songwriter Jimmy Buffett and former
Speaker 1: U S Senator Bob Graham, many advocates feel we're not
Speaker 1: doing enough to keep them safe. Kennon said. Manatees are
Speaker 1: currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. They
Speaker 1: were downgraded from endangered status in twenty seventeen due to
Speaker 1: their rebounding population numbers. Save the Manateque Club not agree
Speaker 1: with the downlisting, as many of the threats that resulted
Speaker 1: in their endangered status have either not improved or worsened,
Speaker 1: for example, based on population counts and death statistics from FWC.
Speaker 1: Eight percent of the Florida manatee population died in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, when there was a statewide case of
Speaker 1: red tide, the minite lost thirteen percent of its population.
Speaker 1: But there are lots of ways to support manatees. If
Speaker 1: you find yourself in manit Territory, keep an eye out
Speaker 1: and appreciate these animals from a distance. If you're in
Speaker 1: a place to help with financial support, you can adopt
Speaker 1: Amanite or otherwise make a donation. And you can always
Speaker 1: support environmental science and conservation through your government representatives at
Speaker 1: the local, state, and national levels. For lots more, check
Speaker 1: out Savethemanatee dot org. They're not a sponsor, just a
Speaker 1: good organization. Today's episode is based on the articles It's
Speaker 1: Amnates Life, Swim, Eat, Rest Repeat, written by Michelle Constantinovski
Speaker 1: and and Manatees ce Underwater written by Kristin Konger on
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