1,000 Manatees Converge on Florida State Park to Keep Warm.

[T.T.]

1,000 Manatees Converge on Florida State Park to Keep Warm in Record-Breaking Sighting.

Those are not rocks you see in this beautiful turquoise water. They aren’t fish either; as incredible as it sounds, those are manatees.

At Blue Spring State Park in Florida, rangers and wildlife biologists have been bowled over by the number of manatees coming into the park’s warm and shallow lagoons to wait out the winter.

The park has been a refuge for the animals against sudden cold snaps for decades, and it’s tradition for rangers to take a “manatee count” every winter. This year the numbers were higher than ever before, with no morning being more memorable than January 21.

Link

[♣Emerald♣]

They do indeed look like long rocks at first glance. Glad the Manatees found refuge in a safe place during the winter and they are warm and happy.

[spice]

The fact that so many were able to come to Blue Springs “is really encouraging” says Cora Berchem, a manatee research associate at the nonprofit Save the Manatee Club. Talking with NPR, Berchem explained that it means they have a good intergenerational understanding of their environment, increasing the odds of intergenerational survival from similar weather events.

That would be something to see. They are such adorable creatures for their size. Seems like they have good instincts as well.

[T.T.]

Emerald agree the Manatees do looks rocks. Not a bad environment to be in the winter.

Spice it does sound as though they have good instincts.

[ZandraJoi]

Such beautiful creatures! That would be a sight to see in the wild.