Does it get much better than this? My day started early this morning. I shot this picture as I biked to Mote Marine lab this morning for our orientation and start to our work here on the manatee project.

We started the day with background lectures by the two principle investigators for the Florida Manatees Project, Dr. John Reynolds and Teresa Kessenich. The manatee which is the subject of this study in the West Indian Manatee, specifically the Florida manatee which is a sub-species. The scientific name of the Florida manatee is Trichechus manatees latirostris (are you impressed Mrs. L-F and Mrs. Burdon?). We learned that these manatees exhibit certain behaviors such as kissing and rubbing noses, playing with inanimate objects, socializing, and mating behaviors. When we go into the field we will be watching for these behaviors.

Manatees are herbivores. They eat primarily seagrass. There are three specific types of seagrass; they are turtle grass which is their favorite, manatee grass, and shoal grass. When we were out in the boat today we collected samples of all three. Here they are in the picture below: Turtle grass is on the far right - it is the thickest of the three grasses; manatee grass is in the middle and shoal grass is on the left. They are sometimes found growing independently, but are often found together in seagrass beds.

We learned some other interesting facts about manatess. We learned that many manatees live to a "ripe old age" of 50 or 60. We also learned, unfortunately, that 73% of female manatees do not live long enough to have a calf. Female manatees usually have their first calf when they are between four and five years of age. The gestation period is between 12 and 14 months. Females who have reached sexual maturity usually give birth to a calf once every two and a half years.

Dr. John Reynolds provided some additional insight into manatees. Until the 1970's virtually nothing was known about manatees, but because of the research done by Mote Marine Laboratories and other research facilities, we now know a great deal about manatees. We know that they can travel at speeds of between 20-25 mph for short spurts; we know that they have a very powerful fluke (tail); we know that they eat for approximately 8 hours per day and consume roughly 100 pounds of food daily. We also know that manatees are very muscular animals, that the female is heavier than the male and has an average weight of 3500 lbs. Dr. Reynolds also discussed the various ways in which manatees are studied. Scientists do direct observations of manatees in their natural habitat, they take aerial l photographs of manatees, they tag and track manatees, and study manatees which are in captivity. Dr. Reynolds also discussed manatee mortality. unfortunately manatee mortality is increasing by about 6% per year.  Approximately 20% of the deaths are caused by boating accidents. Another 20% is of the deaths occur shortly after birth; scientists do not know the cause of many of these deaths. Red Tide is a naturally occurring event which often has a fatal impact on manatees. Red Tide is caused by a toxic dinoflagellate which can either be inhale or ingested by manatees. Unfortunately 32 manatees have died as a result of the red tide this year.

After we had been given background information, we were ready to head to sea on board the Merv. The name stand for Mote Research Vehicle. Teresa gave us a "crash course" in boating and we were ready for our first day on Sarasota Bay searching for manatees. Below you will see  pictures of Merv, Teresa, and the three other Earthwatch volunteers.

As we headed out into Sarasota Bay there were reminders everywhere that the manatee was protected. Below are two signs warning boaters to be watchful of manatees.

We were out in Merv for several hours this afternoon searching for manatees. Unfortunately we did not see any; however we did see several interesting local birds. We saw a comerant perched on a pole; it looked as if he were on the lookout for manatees. We also viewed a group of three islands which serve as a rookery for local bird species.

When we retuned to shore we went to Pansy Bayou to do our daily land survey of manatees. Pansy Bayou is a local manatee sanctuary so there are usually many manatees there. We were not disappointed! We stayed for about 45 minutes and saw a number of manatees including a mother and calf. It was a rewarding finish to the day.