Kristiana, you asked me for a photo of a manatee. It's taken nearly a year darlin', but here they are....
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| Manatee spotting. |
The guys in the boat (upper left) shout that manatee are coming our way. At this point, three ancient water dwelling members of the elephant family are little more than a shadowy area below the waves (upper middle of the photo).
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| Manatee approaching kayak. |
I stop rowing and wait. In a few seconds the manatee are swirls and dark shapes in the water before me. Could I be so lucky? They seem to be heading directly my way.
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| Closer. Manatee and calf. |
Suddenly they appear... sirenia of the sea... the ancient manatee... three graceful denizens of another world and time! Perhaps they are a family, mother, father and calf? If you look closely, you will see a little one swimming directly below the top one.
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| Closer. Manatees passing by. |
They swam directly under my kayak. I am amazed by how innocent naive and vulnerable they are. Now I understand why the manatees are endangered.They are totally trusting.
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| Directly under my kayak. Manatee and calf |
These manatees are no more than a finger length away. I could easily touch her but don't. The ICW is habitat not a petting zoo. Terry tells us that nearly all the manatees in Florida have been hit and are scared from boat propellers. That just ain't right!
Before my close encounter, I did not know that manatees are the closest living relatives of the Proboscidea (elephants) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes) or that these sirens of the sea... I say mermaids... are thought to have evolved from four-legged land mammals over 60 million years ago. In other words, manatees are a treasure and because this beautiful, ancient, endangered species is by nature so trusting, defenseless and we bare all the greater responsibility to protect and watch over them.
9 comments:
Awesome! I never knew that.
That is so cool .
Neither did I!
neato!
i feel like i shouldn't have to do word verification -- aren't i a vip around here?
K., Of course you are VERY VIP around here and if I could find a way of persuading the robots to give you a pass you know I would. Unfortunately they call the shots. Even I have to enter a password to comment here and it's my blog.
I suspect it will only be more like this as time goes on. At some point we may choose, like the elephant manatees of yore, to crawl back into the sea and leave them to their hoard of passwords and permissions.
petropor. Sounds like a prehistoric creature. I am petropor. Hear me roar.
Saw some manatees a few years ago, the week I went to Boca Raton on business, swimming recklessly around in a channel carved out of the indigenous forest so people could have boat docks in their back yards. I felt a little sorry for them, having to traverse the artificial desert with its hazards in order to find some tree roots to nuzzle around in. So I popped another beer and hooted.
dammit Kristiana made it through the word verification but mine here is using, I think, Klingon astrological symbols again. Luckily I have a Mac, and keyboard macros.
I would like to see a manatee.
Don, "nuzzle" is the word. Definitely, manatees are nuzzlers.
Roy, come to Florida. The manatees are lined up to meet you.
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