INTERNATIONAL MANATEE DAY: BAHAMAS? WE GOTTEM!

Manatees are apex ‘gorgeous marine mammals’. Gentle, inquisitive, brave, long-distance-but-rather-slow-swimming, grass-grazing miracle ur-elephant descendants. They never made it out of the sea in the Miocene epoch.

Incongruous in a world of fast sharks, huge whales and leaping dolphins, they contentedly mooch around the seagrass beds. No one in the world has ever objected to or dissed a manatee. They bring only delight to the sea-world, and offer only charm to mankind.

I’ve written quite often about the small number of manatees that inhabit the turquoise inner waters of the Bahamas. Almost all are named and some are tracked (until they lose their trackers). Their friendships and amorous hook-ups are recorded. Despite their relative scarcity in the Bahamas and a 16-month birth cycle, they produce manatee-lets and the family trees are very gradually growing.

Gina and Calf, Bahamas (BMMRO)

IS THERE A DOWNSIDE FOR THESE APPARENTLY BLISSFUL AND PEACEFUL CREATURES?

Yes indeed. It’s mankind. Among the threats to the survival of these unusual, endearing, and legally protected creatures are, in no particular order:

• Pollution of inshore waters and canals
• Degradation of the (formerly limitless) sea-grass beds where they feed
• Reduction or tainting of the fresh water sources that they need to survive
• Understandable over-enthusiasm by admirers – especially in harbours – in dousing them with water from hoses and feeding them lettuce…
• …and similar behaviours that may lead to a trusting dependance on humans
• Unthinking or speed-selfish boat behaviour in or near harbours resulting in collisions
• Simply not caring at all and carving them up, leaving often deep prop-scars. Few manatees escape at least a few of these. Some may not survive.

Let’s celebrate this special day for manatees. Let’s hope that they can survive and prosper in these increasingly difficult and dangerous times for almost all species. Look at any of these photos… can we agree that these wonderful animals deserve care and protection.

All photos: Charlotte Dunn / BMMRO and research contributors