Manatees living in Florida managed to survive the abnormally cold period. About informs Orlando Sentinel.
Manatees are marine mammals that vaguely resemble seals or walruses. One of its populations lives in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Its location is vulnerable because many algae, their main food, have died due to water pollution. In past winters, zoologists have found numerous floating manatee carcasses in this lagoon.
There were also frosts on Catholic Christmas this year, with temperatures dropping to minus two degrees. It is cold for the tropics, and manatees do not tolerate prolonged cooling of water to a temperature of less than 20 degrees. It dropped to values below 10 degrees at the end of December. Despite this, the animals survived the frost well. “After the low temperatures over the weekend, we are pleased to report that we did not record any carrion or manatee,” says biologist Michel Pasavich.
Local residents and environmentalists actively feed manatees in winter. Last year, they were given over 100,000 tons of lettuce, the closest analogue to the algae they consume. Officials attribute the advanced status of manatees to increased seaweed availability in the Indian River Mosquito Lagoon north of Titusville and along the adjacent coast of Cape Canaveral.
Source: Gazeta
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