Happy 2014! May it be a great year for man and manatees!
It’s heartwarming to look back on some of my most memorable manatee moments of the past year. Even though 2013 saw the highest manatee mortality statistics ever recorded, the manatee population that frequents the Crystal and Homosassa rivers is doing well. Although every manatee encounter is special, here are some from 2013 that I think you will enjoy as I did.
Visit Citrus Cover Manatee
Let me start with a manatee who reached out to the viewer enough to be selected for my second cover for the wonderful and informative Visit Citrus Visitors Guide. I took this photograph in March 2013 when manatees lingered in the clear water of the springs. Many times manatees spread out to feed and socialize by the end of February and in some years it is hard to find them around the springs regularly in March. However in March 2013 we were unexpectedly treated to a lot of sightings and activity! This manatee was quite curious and looks like he really wanted a cover shot — don’t you think so?
Twins!
Manatee mothers usually give birth to one calf and twins are uncommon. In my story in Alert Diver Magazine “Little Orphan Manatee” I chronicled a little orphan calf being adopted, and photographed the mother manatee nursing both her own calf and the adoptee at once. Here is a gallery with 17 images of the manatee calf adoption.
Since I was honed in to this intimate maternal behavior, when I saw a mother with two female calves in tow I was very intrigued and notified researchers immediately. If you are interested in this rare “twins” event here is a gallery of 21 images called “Manatee Twins”. It was so interesting to see this hard-working manatee mom showing her two calves around the springs. Usually the mother can be identified by scar patterns, but this female did not have adequate scarring for researchers to make a positive ID. That left a bit of a mystery — were they twins or not? Because of the calves being the same size, along with observations by officials and people living along the canals, the consensus is they are twins and not a calf and an adoptee. This was definitely amongst the most fascinating and touching manatee moments I was lucky enough to witness in 2013!
Father & Daughter & Little Manatee
I made new friends in 2013 and one new friend was this father in his kayak observing a manatee calf. His little girl is in the kayak also, sleeping peacefully. This tranquil scene melted my heart and I think you can see why.
Manatee Tickles
Also in March there were an unusually large number of frisky males pursuing female manatees in and around the freshwater springs. This cavorting male manatee seemed to “tickle” her while gently touching her with his snout. It is one of my favorite photographs of 2013!
Angelic Manatee
On December 16, 2013, there was beautiful blue water around one of the springheads along with very strong sunlight. A mother swam by with her calf who surfaced in the sun. I captured the moment and thought it made the little one look like an angel. This image was used for my Holiday Greetings.
In closing, the way our manatee population will recover from the high-mortality statistics of 2013 is for mothers to have lots of calves. It has been a warm and mild winter so far which is very good for mothers raising manatees. I am optimistic that 2014 will be a much better year for manatees!
it’s so awwwesome, tysm. i am partial to a manatee or 2 :)<