Florida Endangered Manatees Monitored with GPS Tracking
29 May 2014
Baby manatees in Florida get tracked with GPS to learn more about them and hopefully save them from extinction.
In Miami, Florida, manatees are considered an endangered animal, and are at risk of someday becoming extinct. Researchers at the Seaquarium in Miami are hoping that with the help of GPS tracking technology, they can learn more about their regular behavior, daily habits, and what dangers them the most, in order to protect them.
The research started two years ago when biologists found an injured baby manatee in a Key Largo canal, struggling and needing rehabilitation. They helped the manatee at the Seaquarium — naming him Pilgrim. The manatee is now at its adult size at 620 pounds and 7.5 feet long. After being rescued from a deep water canal, it is now outfitted with a GPS tracker and sent back into the ocean.
When the manatee was rescued near the end of 2012, it was a dramatic event. He tried to dodge boats even when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tried to rescue him. He had an injury they believe to be from a boat propeller, which caused a collapsed lung.
Usually manatees are able to survive underwater for up to 20 minutes, but this baby could only go under for about a minute. After being rescued, Leah Brewer, a vet technician at Miami Seaquarium, found out he had a flipped lung.
Following the rescue, pilgrim went back to Seaquarium for a nearly two-year-long rehabilitation. It is not the most calming experience riding in a truck back and forth to the Keys, but Pilgrim eventually settled down about halfway through the ride. A day before releasing Pilgrim, Animal Care Manager, Jodi Tuzinski, mentioned releasing a female manatee of 875 pounds during a four-hour car ride. In this case, she was very calm and mellow during the ride.
Now that Pilgrim has been released into the water, he has a GPS tracking device that lets the team check in on him twice a week. They will use this data to ensure his survival, including monitoring his behavior, making sure he is breathing right, socializing with other mammals, and feeding when he should be. Since the GPS tracker looks at this position, scientists can enter the water at his location and check on his physical condition when they need to.
About Endangered Manatees
As of March 2014, there are only 3,000 manatees in Florida, putting them on the federal Endangered Species protection list. Vessels in the water are responsible for approximately 25 percent of the manatee fatalities every year. Die off of sea grass and Red Tide (blooming algae which contains natural neurotoxins which manatees breath in) are responsible for other manatees deaths. Approximately 10 manatees are dying every month in Florida.
Manatees are large marine mammals that live in the sea. The largest manatees can weigh up to 1,300 pounds and be 13 feet long, which is the reason why they are sometimes called sea cows.
Manatees are smart creatures and able to understand signs, with good long term memory and brain functions similar to dolphins. They can submerge themselves underwater for up to 20 minutes at a time and communicate with different sounds. Manatees are considered herbivores, eating plants like algae and mangrove leaves.
Lauren Conner, a biologist with the FWC, said there is no increase in the number of statewide manatee deaths so far this year.
This rehabilitation and rescue is part of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership that is helping to find a way to prevent fatalities of manatees from losing their natural habitat, watercraft, red tine, entrapment, entanglement, and cold stress. They are using GPS trackers and other modern technology to help protect the endangered species.
Under the state of Florida law — and federal law — it is illegal to harm or injure a manatee.
Anyone can check in on the manatees being tracked by clicking on one of the manatee’s names at the Manatees Rehabilitation Partnership website. Here, visitors can find out more about the manatee, field notes, and look at their current location.
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