take care of their ow

n you

ng an

d sometim

es those of th

eir fellowm

anatees,as w

ell.In fact,

on 20 A

pril 200

6,nine-foot long O

cean Reef

gave birth to twins nam

ed Pumpkin and Patch at the Seaquarium

.The

black,plump babies w

eighed in at 18 and 19 kilograms respectively.They

will nurse for 14 to 16 m

onths and will be dependent on adults until they are

two years old.

Dr R

enner loves the manatee but he is only too aw

are that their survivalin the w

ild is under threat.He is convinced they w

ould get more attention

from the public if they w

ere cuter.Janice Nearing,of the Save The M

anateeC

lub,disagrees,‘I have never understood it when som

e people claim that

manatees are not cute.

I think they are the poster mam

mals for cute!

Just take a good,long look at those wrinkly,cherubic faces.The “aw

ww

” factor is huge!’

The first time N

earing saw a sea cow

she was sm

itten.‘I had to forcem

yself to leave the manatee exhibit at Sea W

orld.I w

as completely

fascinated by them.I w

atched,transfixed,as they did barrel rolls and headstands.I adored their graceful m

oves and the amusing looks they w

ouldget on their loveable faces.’

Manatees can eat up to 10

percent of their body weight each day,w

hichfor Juliet is equal to dow

ning an adult male every 24 hours.B

ut don’t fret.These anim

als are giant but they are entirely gentle,friendly and curiouscharacters.They are also strict vegetarians,

eating primarily sea grass in

the wild,and a tank full of salad in captivity.The sea cow

is a calm,non-

aggressive creature whose closest relative is not the w

alrus or the seal asone m

ight think looking at their whiskers and tubular bodies – it’s the

elephant.‘See how she uses her snout?’ says D

r.Kenner as Juliet comes up

for a breath of air.‘It is like an elephant’s trunk.’The m

anatee lives in shallow w

ater and that is part of their problem.

‘Generally,

if the sun reaches the bottom of the w

ater,the m

anatee will

find growing sea grass.W

here you find food,you w

ill find the manatee,’

says Dr R

enner.The difficulty is that humans are also attracted to shallow

warm

water and they have killed and m

aimed the sea cow

to the point ofputting them

on the endangered species list.The manatee have been run

over by boaters,snared in the lines of fisherm

en,caught in the traps of

crabbers and in the plastic garbage left behind by everybody.Looking

down over the sm

all group here at the Seaquarium,you can see the scars

inflicted by their encounters with m

an – a missing tail,deep slash w

oundsacross their backs from

boat blades and for the twins’ m

om O

cean Reef,a

punctured lung.‘I don’t think people intend to hurt them

,but they do.W

e don’t haveenough police to catch boaters as they speed in shallow

water so w

e arecounting on educating the children.W

e hope that when the kids see the

“slow dow

n,manatee ahead” sign in the w

ater,they will tell their m

om or

dad to stop speeding.’ A

dds Nearing,‘A

s more people get actively involved and really start to

understand and care about what’s happening to m

anatees,there’s a betterch

ance th

ese precio

us,

harm

less anim

als will get m

ore h

elp an

dprotection.’ There are certain areas w

here the manatee are safe from

�

Royal W

ings45

NA

TU

RE

© PATRICK M ROSE/SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB, AVA CHISLING, MIAMI SEAQUARIUM

They may not look it,but m

anatees aregraceful and caring creatures that are beingendangered by the carelessness of hum

ans

Storyby Ava Chisling

Savin

ggra

ce

Full-figured Juliet w

eighs m

ore than

2,500

pounds but h

erdoctor assures m

e she is not fat.Dr M

ichael Renner has w

orkedw

ith manatees for 15 years and says,‘I have seen overw

eightanim

als and she is not one of them.’ Juliet has been living in a

Miam

i Seaquariu

m tan

k for more th

an 50

years and sh

eoccupies a good portion of her hom

e just by floating there,motionless.

Describing a m

anatee to someone w

ho has never seen one is not an easytask.K

nown as the ‘sea cow

’,they look like very large sausage rolls with

tiny heads.They have two short forelim

bs with nails on each and a huge

paddle-like tail to guide them.

They spend most of their days slow

lyfloating and rolling just under the w

ater line.In the wild,they cruise up and

down the eastern U

S coastline,sometim

es drifting as far north as Rhode

Island,and returning south to Florida when the w

eather cools down.That

is a trip of more than 1,30

0 m

iles each way!

Man

atees have an

air of qu

iet dignity abo

ut th

em w

ith a calm

gracefulness in water and a curious nature that belies their w

rinkled,tough exterior.The m

anatee look pre-historic and wise.Yet they are social,

loving animals w

ho constantly touch,push and play together.The females

humans but for the m

ost part,they must live side-by-side and the gentle

giant is gettin

g slaugh

tered.‘M

anatees face ever-in

creasing th

reats,m

ostly from hum

an activities.Protection regulations must rem

ain intact.W

e need more enforcem

ent on the waterw

ays.Their habitat m

ust beprotected.

We n

eed to balance boatin

g access with

protecting ou

rm

anatees and other aquatic resources,’ says Nearing.

‘We rescue them

,heal them and get them

back out to the wild w

heneverpossible,’ says D

r Renner.‘W

e don’t own them

.They stay here temporarily

and then leave.’ Interestingly,despite all the am

azing advances in veterinarian medicine

since Juliet turned up in the 1950s,the doctors here have to count on good

old-fashioned techniques to nurse the animals back to health.‘There is not

an MR

I big enough on this planet that could accomm

odate a 2,500

poundan

imal.

The sam

e holds tru

e for x-rays.’ So the vets rely on

simple

techniques,which sound sim

ilar to a visit to our own general practitioner;

they watch their eating habits,

their general behaviour and take bloodtests of the w

ounded animal.

‘There are only a few of us w

ho care for the manatee and w

e are all intouch,’ says D

r Renner.B

ut without the precision of m

edical technology tom

ake exact diagnoses on the wounded anim

als,the doctors not only haveto assess their health but also their likelihood of surviving once released.That is w

hen the arguments occur,as there are no guarantees and no clear

answers.For exam

ple,the goal is to release Ocean R

eef and her twins into

the wild.The question for the experts is w

hen is the best time to do so.A

ndonce they are free,how

will they fare am

ong the boaters,the fishermen

and deteriorating environmental conditions in general?

That question is not for Dr R

enner but for all of us as we are responsible

for keeping the manatee safe.A

comm

itment not to run them

over with

speed-boats or strangle them w

ith rubbish should be fairly easy to make.

■

46R

oyal Wings

NA

TU

RE

Saving

the m

an

atee

Save The Manatee C

lub was co

-founded by Am

erican singer Jimm

yB

uffett,famous for his song M

argaritaville.The Club recently provided film

props to the family m

ovie,H

oot,and B

uffett both contributed to thesoundtrack and stars as a m

arine scientist in the film.

Janice Nearing of the C

lub describes the many w

ays you can getinvolved in helping the m

anatee.‘Volunteers are alw

ays needed andhighly appreciated at the Save The M

anatee Club.Florida volunteers can

sign up for the manatee-sighting netw

ork and help provide valuableinform

ation to researchers who are tracking m

anatees.You can also givepresentations at schools,organisations and com

munity events as w

ell ashelp staff education tables at festivals and fairs.Everyone,w

hether theylive in state,out of state,or in another country entirely,can join our freeEm

ail Action A

lert Team,

so they can receive notices of issues that areim

portant for manatee protection and the actions they can take to help

them.

People are also encouraged to sign up for our free Paddle Tales E-N

ewsletter for m

ore manatee inform

ation.‘A

nother great way to get involved is by becom

ing a mem

ber of SaveThe M

anatee Club.You becom

e a mem

ber by adopting a manatee from

our three adoption program

mes.

The Club is a m

embership

-based,national non-profit organisation that is funded prim

arily by the Adopt-A

-M

anatee programm

e.Funds go towards public aw

areness and educationprogram

mes,

manatee research,

rescue and rehabilitation efforts,and

advocacy and legal action.The adoption package includes an adoptioncertificate,photo and biography of a real Florida m

anatee,a mem

bershiphandbook,

and the Club sends or em

ails you a newsletter,

The Manatee

Zone,four times a year.’

See ww

w.saveth

ema

na

tee.org

for co

mp

lete deta

ils an

d m

ore

info

rma

tion

.

‘We rescue them

,heal them and get

them back out to the w

ild whenever

possible,’ says Dr R

enner.