Record Numbers of Manatees are
Seeking Refuge in Blue Spring
Interesting because it has been quite warm and manatee deaths caused by careless boaters have set records this year.
There were many West Indian "Florida" Manatees in Blue Spring today,
Seeking Refuge in Blue Spring
Interesting because it has been quite warm and manatee deaths caused by careless boaters have set records this year.
There were many West Indian "Florida" Manatees in Blue Spring today,
including this very inquisitive female that swam up to pose for the photographer.
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Manatees are large, intelligent, aquatic mammals.
Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) are a subspecies of the
The Florida manatee is a relative of the elephant. They are grayish brown and have thick, wrinkled skin on which there is often a growth of algae. The manatee's front flippers help them steer, or sometimes crawl, through shallow water. They also have powerful, flat tails that help propel them through the water. Despite their small eyes and lack of prominent ears, manatees see and hear quite well.
Manatees are herbivores, with a diet consisting mostly of sea grasses and freshwater vegetation. There is no vegetation to speak of to feed the manatees in Blue Spring so they must venture into the cool waters of the St. Johns River to forage. Those waters are too cool at present to sustain these mammals so they spend much of their time during cool weather in Florida's warm water springs. Like other grazing animals, Florida manatees play an important role in influencing plant growth in the shallow rivers, bays, estuaries, canals and coastal waters where they live.
Despite the fact that Florida manatees are listed as endangered species throughout their range and protected by intersecting and overlapping Federal and State statutes, and notwithstanding the fact that Blue Spring is a spectacular natural feature, little has been done to protect the spring and its life-saving flow of warm 72° F (22° C), fresh water from relentless, reckless, and pointless development. Blue Spring is only accessible through one of the most sprawl-ridden cities in Central Florida (Orange City).
A ride into Orange City from I-4 along any of the access roads (SR 472, E. Graves Ave., Saxon Blvd., Dirksen Drive) is a ride through litter strewn roadways and back-to-back strip malls built atop sensitive sand hills that could barely support the springs before millions of humans flocked to the areas in the past 20 years. It is development for the sake of development. . . more sprawl to entice more development to induce a larger tax base. The natural environment does not figure into these political decisions.
A ride into Orange City from I-4 along any of the access roads (SR 472, E. Graves Ave., Saxon Blvd., Dirksen Drive) is a ride through litter strewn roadways and back-to-back strip malls built atop sensitive sand hills that could barely support the springs before millions of humans flocked to the areas in the past 20 years. It is development for the sake of development. . . more sprawl to entice more development to induce a larger tax base. The natural environment does not figure into these political decisions.
A boardwalk through the hammock at Blue Spring.
The 2,600 acre park seems a world away from the strip-mall haven
of Orange City, only a few miles to the east.
Manatee Cleaning Station
This manatee was resting at a floating dock receiving a cleaning
from a school of hungry brim or bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus).
At the same time
Record Numbers Seek Refuge
at Blue Spring
Statewide last year, 520 manatees were found dead in waterways across the state, of those at least 104 deaths were watercraft-related. Boats kill more manatees in Florida than anything else
Sabal Palms (the Florida State Tree) along the Blue Spring Run.
On Dec. 2, the 98th manatee of the year died of watercraft-inflicted injuries in Florida. That made 2016 the new record year for manatees killed by watercraft in the state.
The previous record, 97, was set in 2009. The number of manatee rescues necessitated by watercraft strikes is also up this year. The silver lining to their story is that someone reported their injuries, giving them the chance to be rescued and treated. Not all survive.
Some contend that if we have more manatees, we'll have more injured and killed by boats. We don't subscribe to that line of thinking and don't know anyone who intentionally aims to injure manatees during a day of boating.
But terrible injuries and suffering occur nonetheless, and we can do better. There must be a way for Floridians to enjoy boating and recreating on our waterways without hurting or killing manatees.
The boil at Blue Spring, or the cavern from which the water flows, hosted at least a dozen manatees who had made their way down the extremely shallow run to bask in the warmth and protection of this terminus of the Blue Spring run. This was perhaps the lowest water level I had ever seen at Blue Spring. The manatees at times appeared to be working together to dig a canal toward the spring boil.
Manatee Island
Above: In several places along the run the manatees were working together to dig holes in the shallow water. . .or were they just playing? Regardless, they resembled their close cousins, elephants, when grouped in masses of 10 - 20 individuals. Manatees are capable of understanding discrimination tasks, and show signs of complex associated learning and advanced long term memory. They demonstrate complex intelligence similar to dolphins and all other marine mammals.
Above and Below: I am especially fond of the young manatees and their delightfully playful behavior.
Below: A family basks in the warm Florida sun on an otherwise cool day. The high temperature today was 53° F (11½° C). The sun only rose to a relatively shallow 42.1° in the southern sky. Still, that is a decent enough elevation to create some warmth despite the cool airmass. Consider that today the sun only rose to 30° in New York and 28.8° in Chicago.
The nearer the St. Johns River the more opaque the water. Still, many manatee were visible hanging out very near where the spring run flows into the cool river. Presumably they rush out for some fresh vegetation and then rush back into the warm waters of the spring.
Very close to the St. Johns River a couple of manatees came up to gawk at the gawking photographer.
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