Aquarium’s first manatee patients are adjusting well

Visitors to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium can see Yeti and Zamboni, but the young Florida manatees – swimming in 80,000 gallons of clear blue salt water – can’t see the visitors. The massive window on their enclosure is made of thick one-way glass.

There’s a reason for that. “They’re not our animals,” said Director of Media Resources Marsha Strickhouser. “We’re just keeping them in our hospital, and then they’ll be released.”

The juvenile males (estimated age between one and three years) arrived at Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s new Manatee Rehabilitation Center July 30, after spending six months under the watchful eye of biologists at ZooTampa, one of three manatee critical care centers in the state.

July 30: Arrival in Clearwater from ZooTampa. Video screengrab.

CMA is a member of the statewide Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership, a licensed consortium of agencies and organizations partnering cooperatively in rescue, rehabilitation, release and monitoring efforts.

The Florida manatee, a newly-named subspecies of the West Indian manatee, is listed as threatened. Decades of conservation efforts have helped bring the animal back from the brink of extinction.

It’s a fight, however, that still has to be fought daily. Boat strikes are the number one killers of these slow-moving aquatic mammals, which live along the coastline and in marine estuaries, although they can get tangled in crab trap lines and other human designs as they graze on vegetation in shallow water. Toxic man-made chemicals in sea grass beds, and naturally-occurring red tide blooms, can also devastate manatee populations.

Yeti and Zamboni were discovered in the wild last winter, suffering the debilitating effects of cold stress. Manatees don’t have a thick layer of protective blubber like dolphins and whales, so when their environment becomes too cold they seek warmer inland waters.

As defined by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, cold stress can result from prolonged exposure to water below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. “Manatees with cold stress typically have bleaching on their skin, visible abscesses, unresolved sores, a heavy barnacle or algae load, and are underweight.”

The top of the pool. This area, part of an observation deck, is not open to the public. Video screengrab.

CMA’s just-opened rehab center is what’s known as a second-stage facility for manatees in trouble. Once a rescued animal’s health is stabilized, it will be moved from the critical care center and into the continually-filtered Clearwater pool. This then makes room at the critical center for incoming patients.

Zamboni was rescued Jan. 25 in Placida Bayou, near Shore Acres. He was 200 centimeters (approximately 6-foot-7) long and weighed 306 pounds.

He is currently 208 centimeters long and weighs 440 pounds.

Yeti was rescued Feb. 15 in Kings Bay, near Crystal River. He was 205 centimeters (approximately 6-foot-9) long and weighed 365 pounds.

He is currently 216 centimeters long and weighs 495 pounds.

The goal, according to CMA chief veterinarian Dr. Shelly Marquandt, is to get the manatees up to around 600 pounds – average for their age. “They do have a certain percentage of their body weight – 10 to 15 percent – that they should be eating on a continuous basis,” she explained. Yeti and Zamboni are given romaine, escarole and endive primarily, plus certain native greens. “We don’t want fat manatees, so we don’t want to overfeed. But we want to make sure that they have enough to meet all their nutritional requirements during the day.”

Yeti and Zamboni are energetic eaters. “Obviously, because there were other manatees at ZooTampa, there was more competition (for food),” Marquardt added. “And now it’s just them – and they are taking full advantage of that.”

Daily feeding, and monitoring, is done discreetly. Marquardt and the CMA manatee staff get in and get out.

“From there, is everything moving? Are they eating, are they pooping, is everything moving the way it should? Similar to cows and horses, they are prone to gastrointestinal issues. They can get backed up. And that’s really important, because as they’re eating, things are coming out.”

Marquardt’s expectation is that her patients will each gain enough weight by December, and they’ll be released in the areas where they were found. “We think Yeti will be first,” she said.

The Manatee Rehabilitation Center is part of the CMA’s $32 million “Rising Tides” facility revitalization project; one of the next phases will involve a buildout of the surgical rooms, and further expansion of the manatee rehab area. CMA should become an authorized critical care facility within two years.

The facility’s focus will continue to be conservation and education-based. It’s not a zoo or a “performing animal” attraction. None of the permanent residents, including dolphins and sea turtles, can be released back into the wild.

Yeti and Zamboni, and the manatees to follow, are just passing through.

The walk-through viewing area includes kiosks of information about the West Indian manatee, its biology, habits, distribution and perils – along with details about the world’s other manatee species, and global conservation efforts (some spearheaded by CMA).

As if to remind visitors that Yeti and Zamboni are wild creatures in practically people-free isolation, there’s a small sticker affixed to the big viewing window: DO NOT TAP ON GLASS. They’re not supposed to know we exist.