Photo Update 2

Continuing the photo updates, these are some of the places we found manatees (in the wild - there are plenty of zoos and aquaria with them - mainly rescues):


TECO power plant exhaust water channel


Blue Springs National Park


Manatees:

For those not familiar with the West Indian Manatee, they are an aquatic mammal distantly related to the elephant who live in Central and South America mainly but can be found as far north as the Carolinas in the USA. They are large slow moving vegetarians who are sadly easily harmed by people in boats who go too fast through their habitat. Most manatees are scarred - some badly - by propellors. These are typically short parallel lines on their backs, but they can occaionally lose bits of their tails or even whole flippers from boat strikes. Luckily manatees and their habitats are protected by law.