Manatees

We went on a field trip this Friday to see the Manatees. They come to a canal by a power plant when the water in the gulf or canals turn cold. The process of the power plant heats up water and then flushes it out into a canal. The manatees come to seek warm water. We were able to touch different bones from the manatee and get quite a bit of information. Then off to the canal to see and hear the manatees.

Faith loves manatees. They are one of her favorite animals. She is holding the bones of the fin in this picture.

Luke is holding the rib. The one in his right hand is from the manatee and the one in the left is a cow rib. It was amazing how heavy the manatee rib was compared to the cow. They said the rib is compared to the ivory tusk of the elephant. They also were able to see the jaw and the traveling molars. Manatees only have back molars and when they loose one the molars travel from the back pushing the molars to fill in the gap.
Looking at the manatees in the canal.

I could not believe how many were there. A lot of them hung out in this lagoon area so they didn't have to fight the current. The kids were laughing at the ones in the canal just floating down the canal on the currents. When they got to the end they would swim back up and do it all over again. The people you see were there taking skin samples. This park is not one that captures the manatees. They are wild animals that come and go. They are not feed or anything from here.

We also found a couple Blue Crabs.

And of course we had to pose by the statue.

We were very lucky that it was cold out side and able to see tons of manatees. If you are ever in Fort Myers check out the manatee park.