FINAL Manatee Migration Update: April 30, 2003

Today's Report Includes:

• Special Thanks to the Manatee Scientists!
• Final Field Notes from Cathy Beck
• Latest Migration Maps and Data
• One Last "Look" at Your Tracked Manatees
• Tipper and Red Tide
• What Has Our Manatee Tracking Study Told Us? Compare Your Results
• Ready for Summer Vacation?
• More Manatee Adaptations: Skeleton, Flippers and Fat
• Try This!The Match Game: Can You Make a Match?
• If Manatees Had a TV Show
• The Human Imprint: Our Impact on Manatees
• Try This! Measure Your Footprint-Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz!
• Sharing the Planet: 200,000 More People Every Day
• More Manatee Math & Pizza Percentages: Discussion of CQ #30
• A Conveyor Belt of Teeth: Discussion of CQ #31 and #32
• Year-end Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts!

Thank you Cathy Beck, Jim Reid, Bob Bonde, Susan Butler and Dean Easton from the Sirenia Project; Bruce Ackerman from the Florida Marine Research Institute; Ranger Wayne Hartley from Blue Spring State Park; and also Nancy Sadusky from Save the Manatee Club. It's been another fantastic season studying the Manatees!

• Want to Send a Thank You?
  If you'd like to write and thank the scientists, they'd love to hear from you! Send your notes to: our feedback form

We'll be sure to forward your notes to them.

Hi Students:
As I got ready for this final report, Jim Reid had been busy in the field and I'd been waiting to hear the news of his adventures. Jim returned and I've got his news from the water, along with the final tracking data and maps too:

Link to Latest Data and Maps:
(Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey's Sirenia Project)

• Data & Individual Map for Actual
• Data & Individual Map for Anna
• Data & Individual Map for Chuck
• Data & Individual Map for Gulliver
• Data & Individual Map for Santina
• Data & Individual Map for Thumper
• Data & Individual Map for Tipper
• Data Only for All Manatees--Printer-friendly Format

During his time in the field last week, Jim was able to deploy GPS tags on Anna and Actual. This is noteworthy because, as you already learned, using GPS tags will allow him to receive even more detailed information on these two manatees' use of the Port of the Islands area.

One Last "Look" at Your Tracked Manatees
The best news from Jim is that he got "visuals" on all our tracked manatees except one. All the manatees are well, with no new scars! But did Jim get a visual on the Manatee you've been tracking? Catch up with Jim's full field summary of visuals:

• Jim Reid's Latest Observations--Who did he see?

Tipper and Red Tide
Tipper has given us a little concern recently, because she has been in an area affected by a harmful algal bloom known as "Red Tide". Up to 60 manatees have already died near this area from the Red Tide. But fortunately, satellite data, and reports from our colleagues with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, indicate that Tipper is still doing well.

Do you know what Red Tide really is? Did you know that it can affect more than manatees, such as other aquatic life like fish, mollusks, and other marine mammals? Did you know that it can even affect land animals like humans, and possibly even "man's best friend", the dog, too? Learn more about Red Tide:

• What is Red Tide?
  

Red Tide
What is this? And why can it make a manatee (and you) sick?	Can you find Tipper's location in relation to the Red Tide? What is the Red Tide level near her location? Credit: FWC

As you saw this season, manatees moved between the seagrass beds and inland sites - either Port of the Islands or to the numerous creeks and rivers. As you know, these inland sites are the areas where manatees go when they are thirsty. Did you notice from the location data that each manatee often has a preferred inland area to acquire freshwater, and some appear to be very loyal to his or her site?

Why is our study data important, and how will they be used? Take a look at my Full Season Summary on the web, and compare your conclusions to ours. And take a look in the Summary at my comments about the movements of those manatees that we've studied over several seasons. There are some interesting differences between the movements of Actual and Santina. Did you see them too?

• Compare Your Season Summary to Cathy's

I hope you will all check in with us again next year. We may still be following the movements of these manatees, maybe some new ones as well. We look forward to sharing our data with you, and hope you look forward to learning more about manatees and the habitat they depend on for survival.

Cathy A. Beck, Jim Reid, Susan Butler, Bob Bonde
Sirenia Project

• How is Animal Migration Like a Human Vacation?

• Why are Manatee flippers like a human hand?
• Are Manatee bones different from yours?
• Can Manatees really "walk" on their flippers?
• Will Manatees in two parts of Florida have similar amounts of body fat?

Learn more about these adaptations, and then be sure to "Bone Up" on the others too because we're ready to wrap them all up into the Adaptation Matching Game. Remember: There's always a WHY behind WHAT you see. Whenever you see an unusual behavior or body part, ask yourself WHY.

• Manatee Adaptations: Skeleton and Flippers and Fat
  

• Stay under water for 15 minutes?
• Get new teeth constantly?
• Exchange almost all the air in your lungs in just one breath?
• Adjust your body fat to the surrounding temperature?

A Manatee easily does all these things and more, thanks to special adaptations. But you would need some help to do the same things!

Try This! Imagine yourself doing the things that Manatees do. Can you match the Manatee adaptation to a human invention?

• Manatee Matching Game

What if Manatees had gotten their ownTV show, like Flipper?

Save the Manatee Club biologist Patti Thompson said in an earlier Palm Beach Post interview that these boating deaths are something that is "preventable just by being more careful." She added that if a single thing was causing 25% of human deaths (or worse yet 31%) "don't you think we'd be pretty worried about that?"

"If we were doing these same things to any dolphin species, I guarantee you there would be a public and government outcry from here to Washington," said Greg Bossart, Director of Marine Mammal Research and Conservation at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in the same article. "Animals that have more appeal to our emotional needs or spiritual needs or whatever get more attention. They (Manatees) didn't get a TV series (like Flipper)."

What are the other reasons to protect Manatees?:

• Why Manatees Need Protection

Then come back and discuss the questions below, which all play a role in understanding how fragile the Manatee population really is:

1) What is the size of the Manatee population?

2) Should an "endangered" species deserve more protection?

3) What is the rate of reproduction in Manatees?

4) Do you think the death rate will likely increase or decrease? From
what causes? Can deaths be reduced?

5) Can non-fatal injuries affect Manatee reproduction?

6) Are other species protected more than Manatees? Why?

Rapidly increasing human population in Florida impacts the Manatees in many different ways. More people in Florida means more boats and in turn more boating deaths for Manatees. But did you know that more people can also impact Manatee food sources and habitat?

When you were mapping this year's Manatee migrations, do you remember how they regularly visited certain offshore areas over and over to feed in the lush seagrass beds. But what would happen if the seagrass beds were threatened?

Dr. Ackerman indicates that seagrass bed damage is a risk with a growing population in Florida. In addition to damage from boat propeller scarring, he says that "seagrass beds are very sensitive to having good water clarity, and seagrasses are declining in some areas due to poor water clarity. And pollution continues to increase in some areas, from pesticides and herbicides, urban run-off, and septic tanks. That causes problems for seagrasses too. After all, it is every bit as important to have enough habitat for Manatees. You can't have enough Manatees without enough habitat!"

The average U.S. citizen has a "footprint" that is more than five times larger than the world average. If everyone lived like the average U.S. citizen, it would take more than five planets to support the world's population How do you Measure Up? Take the Quiz

• Metronome (144 Per Minute)
  Every time you hear a beat, it means there's another person on the planet. (This is not the birth rate, but the "net gain," which means births minus deaths.) If you were to count the beats for 24 hours, 200,000 more people would have been added to the planet.

In recognition of Earth Day this year, our "Signs of Spring" report reflected on human population growth, and its impact on the natural world. Beginning in about 1750, the Industrial Revolution improved the standard of living so dramatically that the human population began to grow exponentially. In less than 250 years, world population went from under 1 billion to 6 billion people. At current growth rates, we add one million more people to the planet every 5 days. How have humans managed to populate the entire globe? Learn about human invention and population growth from an historical perspective:

• Link to Signs of Spring and Thoughts for Earth Day 2003

Assuming a 1,000 pound Manatee, eating 10% to 15% of its weight per day, several groups from St. Johns Greek Orthodox School, Iselin Middle School and Highview School correctly calculated that the Manatee eats 100 pounds to 150 pounds (10% to 15%) every day!

Pizza Percentages
But how does that convert into 1 pound pizzas? If a human ate 10% to 15% of her/his own body weight in pizza, how many pizzas would that be? It all depends on what their individual weight is.

You Eat How Much Each Day? Hey kids--you all did a great job--and we at Journey North hope you did your pizza calculations in the classroom and not in the kitchen--that's way too much pizza to eat!

Here are some pizza percentages from the Iselin, St. John's and Highview School students:

"One of our team mates weighs 82 lbs, at 10% she would need to eat 8.2 pizzas and at 15% it would be 12.3 pizzas. Another team mate weighs 120 lbs, and would need to eat 12 pizzas at 10% and 18 pizzas at 15%." Nick, Dana, Nina, Hythum--Iselin Middle School

"I weigh about 90 lbs so I'd have to eat 9 pizzas for 10% and 13.5 pizzas for 15%". Samuel and Alex--St John Greek Orthodox Group 9

"Anonymous weighs 110 pounds. He would eat between 11 to 16.5 pizzas. I weigh 120 pounds, and I would eat between 12 and 18 pizzas."
Arthur and Turner, St. John Greek Orthodox Group 8

"10% of 1000 lbs. = 100 lbs.
15% of 1000 lbs = 150 lbs.
A 1000 lb. manatee eats between 100-150 lbs. a day.
I weigh 105 lbs.
10% of my weight is 10.5 lbs.
15% of my weight is 15.75 lbs.
I would have to eat 10 -16 pizzas a day." Dan, Highview Elementary School, Nanuet, NY

In CQ# 31, we asked "What dental problem do Marching Molars solve for Manatees? Do humans have the same problem? How do you solve it?" Here are some of the excellent answers we received:

Nicole and Emily wrote to tell us:
"The manatees have marching molars so if their molars get worn down because of how much they eat then they have more that grow in. If our teeth get damaged after we already lost it once, we can't grow another but the manatees can always grow more."

Alex and Samuel wrote:
"Marching molars solve the problem of vegetation wearing down the teeth by having extra sets of teeth moving in. In a way, humans have the same problem. We lose baby teeth and molars take the place of lost teeth, but if the molars get worn or knocked out, the dentist could fill it in."

Ben and John said:
"A manatee would have cavities, false teeth, dentures, etc if they didn't have marching molars. Humans only have two sets of teeth, and so we solve our dental problems by going to the dentist."

Alex wrote that:
"Marching Molars solve the problem of when manatees lose teeth there are other teeth that shift to where the tooth is missing. Humans have the same problem of losing teeth, so we either go to the dentist to get a cap for where the tooth is missing or we eat soft foods until the permanent tooth replaces the gap."

And last but not least, Sarah and Sophia said:
"Manatees teeth grow back every time they lose teeth. No, humans don't have the same problem because every time they lose teeth it only grows back once or you would have to maybe get a fake tooth."

Ben and John wrote that:
"A manatee's teeth keep coming back no matter what, but a human only has two pairs of teeth. Also human teeth are vertically replaced, but manatees are replaced horizontally."

Alex and Samuel wrote that:
"Manatees do not have dentists to help replace their teeth, like humans do. Instead, manatees have marching molars, which means they have lots of extra teeth. The teeth come in pushing the most worn down or oldest teeth out.

And Alex in Group 8 said:
"When manatees lose teeth, molars 'shift' into the empty gap, but when humans lose teeth it 'grows' into the empty gap, and humans only have two pair of teeth."

Peter and Mitchell in Group 1 explained that:
"The difference in manatee teeth and ours is that they have marching molars that keep rotating meaning that once they fall out they continually grow new ones. We have two sets of teeth our baby and our adult teeth."

Sarah and Sophia mentioned:
"Manatees' marching molars move forward after they fall out. Also the marching molars keep moving forward. We, humans do not have marching molars, nor do we have anything that moves forward after losing a tooth."

Journey North Year End Evaluation Please share your thoughts

The is the FINAL Manatee Migration Update. Have a great summer and we'll see you next year!