ShareThisHumans aren't the only mammals that huddle up during the chilly days of winter. Manatees, the gentle giants of Florida's tropical inshore waters, also congregate wherever there is a warm current.
A cold front the third week of January aided scientists responsible for the manatee count conducted annually in state waters. While the warm-blooded manatees snuggled near power-plant outflows and natural springs, a team of 21 observers from nine organizations used aerial flyovers to record 3,807 manatees -- a record-high number exceeding the previous high in 2001 by more than 500 animals.
The number exceeded the most recent count -- called a synoptic survey -- conducted in 2007 by nearly 1,000 manatees. There was no survey in 2008 because of a lack of good conditions.
Ideal survey conditions Jan. 19-23 helped produce the findings, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute research scientist Holly Edwards.
"Were we surprised by the large number -- yes and no," Edwards said. "We knew the manatee population was increasing in some areas of the state, but we had not had a long period of sustained cold weather."
Edwards said the institute, the research branch of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, does not like to compare synoptic survey results from year to year because the numbers are "very inexact." The institute's Web site notes survey findings are not a population estimate of manatees, but rather indicate the minimum number of manatees at that given time.
Capt. Nancy Beaver who operates Sunshine Wildlife Tours departing from Finz Waterfront Grill in Port Salerno questions the findings.
"I have a hard time believing the count," she said. "It bothers me how many are killed that we don't know about. They have solid ribs and they really don't float well. Some drift out to sea and I've seen them drift into inland waterways where they are eaten by alligators."
Beaver said that since a female manatee only gives birth about once every four years, the manatee population does not produce enough young each year to overcome the mortality rate.
Pat Rose, a biologist and executive director of the Save the Manatee Club based in Maitland, said the numbers are reflective of the manatees' population growth in some areas of the state, particularly in spots like Blue Spring State Park in the Upper St. Johns River north of Orlando and in northwest Florida, where there has been good growth-management laws for urban development.
"They flew on a really good day and capitalized in ideal conditions to conduct the survey," Rose said. "Where there has been population growth, there has been manatee-protection rules in place that are working."
Rose cautioned that the manatee population is not thriving in all areas of the state.
"Historically, 40 percent of the population lives in southwest Florida," Rose said. "This year's results are consistent with estimates that the population there has been declining for the past eight-10 years."
MORTALITY DATA
According to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, there were 337 manatee carcasses documented in 2008, below the five-year average of 357 due to a low death rate associated with red tide. Watercraft strikes (90) and newborn deaths (101) were the two most commonly documented mortality categories.
(Ed Killer writes for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers. E-mail him at edward.killer(at)scripps.com.)
