Florida Manatee

These are Florida manatees.  The Florida manatee is a subspecies of West Indian manatee, which live in South America, Central America, Florida, Cuba, the Caribbean Sea, and the east coast of the United States.

Manatees are not fish.  They are marine mammals, which are mammals that live in the water.  Whales and dolphins are also marine mammals.

These manatees were my favorite animal at SeaWorld.  They were at an exhibit called Manatee Rescue with alligator gars.  They are endangered, and I don’t get to see them much, so I was happy to see them.  Their biggest problem is getting hit by motor boats.  I like their flat tail.  They look fat, but they’re not fat.

At SeaWorld I went on a behind-the-scenes tour, and one of the things I saw was this rescued baby manatee.  Her name is Trixie.  This baby manatee does not have a mother.  Someone rescued her and brought her to SeaWorld to take care of her.  She is not in the manatee exhibit.  They feed her milk from a bottle every 3 hours.  They are also just starting to give her romaine lettuce to eat.