Posted on 08/29/2014 3:22:43 AM PDT by Olog-hai
As they do whenever they visit Florida, Greg Groff and his young daughter stopped by the manatee pool at Miami Seaquarium, where the speed bump-shaped marine mammals placidly swim in circles. They noted the pink scars and disfigured tail on one manatee, damage from a boat propeller that left it unable to survive in the wild.
Florida’s manatees need even more stringent protections than their listing on the federal endangered species list, Groff said, adding that boaters should go elsewhere if they don't like speed limits in waters where manatees swim. […]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing whether the manatee should be reclassified as a “threatened” species, which would allow some flexibility for federal officials as the species recovers while maintaining most of the protections afforded to animals listed as endangered. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Oh...The huge manatee!
The species was quickly wiped out by the sailors, seal hunters, and fur traders who followed Bering's route past the islands to Alaska, who hunted it both for food and for skins, which were used to make boats. It was also hunted for its valuable subcutaneous fat, which was not only used for food (usually as a butter substitute), but also for oil lamps because it did not give off any smoke or odour and could be kept for a long time in warm weather without spoiling. By 1768, 27 years after it had been discovered by Europeans, Steller’s sea cow was extinct.
I CAN believe it's not butter.
Slow moving, slow witted. I'm surprised the Dugongs and Manatees are not extinct
Speed bump shaped?
I’d say a python is speed bump shaped, not a manatee
This is hugh. I’m series!
Oh, the few manatees!
Don’t know where you are from Bob but we have manatees all over here in South Florida.
They are speed bumps to motorboats.
There are speed zones all over when they are prevalent during winter.
They do make good steaks on the bar b though.
NOt called Sea Cows forno reason.
In contrast, the manatee has very low body fat. Its shape is due to size of its lungs.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing whether the manatee should be reclassified as a “threatened” species, which would allow some flexibility for federal officials as the species recovers while maintaining most of the protections afforded to animals listed as endangered. …
...
The alligator is now plentiful yet it still receives protection. Schoolchildren are taught to get all weepy about the Florida panther, even though it’s an ordinary North American cougar.
Interesting. So low “butter fat” kept it from being wiped out as a food source perhaps. An evolutionary plus. Still can’t keep away from propellers, not the brightest bulbs.
I remember reading hunting magazines as a kid. Ads for the new nylon .22 by Remington. The full page ad showed a commercial fisherman shooting a seal eating a fish in his purse seine net. Back then you could. Jimmy Carter banned the killing of all sea mammals and now if you ply the waters in many states pinipeds can be seen blocking all docks and crowding onto people’s boats and such. They have decimated the fishing in certain areas. ( Of course sirenians are slower to increase in numbers and will need a longer moratorium)
It’s what happens when emotions cloud the intellect. Nothing wrong with stewardship. You keep populations of some things moderated and strategically removed surpluses where necessary.
i can see rosie, michelle, hillary, et. al. getting nervous
If you haven’t eaten manatee you haven’t been living.
For the humor challenged that last post was a joke.
/johnny
They swam right up and frolicked with my kids on the Gulf Coast. Very cool!
Agreed. I took a church youth group to swim with manatees (as a detour on a week-long mission trip in Florida). Unforgettable experience.
LOL
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