Manatee Facts for Fun – Part 6
Greetings! This is my sixth blog installment talking about some very cool and awesome manatee facts.
You know – it’s really not a bad life at all being a manatee! Why? Because the manatee has no real agenda to follow. And get this – a normal day for a manatee is spent swimming, eating, resting and playing. Not a bad life! Moreover, the manatee often sleeps on its side or upside down on its head. And since manatees are marine mammals, they need air to breathe. So when they sleep, they naturally rise to the surface for air every 20 minutes then naturally descend back to the sandy bottom.
Scientists studying manatees learned that when the play, they exercise. Manatees can bend, flex and stretch and they can even balance on their heads and/or tails! Manatees can also be seen doing barrel rolls and very cool somersaults, just as I did when I left Cape Cod, Massachusetts to head home to Blue Spring State Park in Florida. You can learn more about us manatees by reading, Kobee Manatee®: Heading Home to Florida, published by Thompson Mill Press.
Did you know that a group of manatees is called a herd? It’s true and a herd consists of males and female manatees of all ages! Herds usually have between 5 to 25 members in it. However, herds of up to 50 manatees have been seen together!
Manatees are also tactile, which means they touch things and each other. When they’re together in a herd they actually greet one another with their snouts or by touching tails. Manatees also swim together by holding onto each other with their flippers. They can also chase other members of the herd and give each other friendly bumps.
When not in herds, for the majority of the year the manatee leads a quiet and solitary life. Males (also known as bulls) migrate alone. Females (also known as cows) travel alone or with their young (known as calves) at their side.
Manatees only socialize spending time together, during mating season. Sometimes you might actually see several manatees forming a single line. And this event looks like they’re playing “follow-the-leader.” They often dive and swim together looking like very graceful dancers!
Stay tuned as I bring you more very cool manatee facts from another one of my blogs!
If you are in Florida and you see a sick or injured manatee, please call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at: 1-888-404-FWCC. They are the folks who are responsible for rescuing us in Florida.
Here’s the Save the Manatee Club link to learn more about manatees …
Here’s a cool link for you to learn more about how we’re rescued and brought into rehabilitation …
~ Kobee Manatee
Related Posts
Manatee Facts for Fun – Part 1 (January 23, 2019)
Manatee Facts for Fun – Part 2 (January 31, 2019)
Manatee Facts for Fun – Part 3 (February 27, 2019)
