Where the manatees go when it gets cold

A Florida manatee is an enormous animal with almost no body fat, which is a bad combination in cold water. Sustained exposure below roughly 68 degrees causes cold stress, a condition that can kill them. This single fact explains the entire winter geography of manatees in Florida.

Springs are refuges, not attractions

Because spring water here stays close to 74 degrees year round, spring-fed rivers become survival refuges when the Gulf and the rivers around them drop. Manatees move in, sometimes in large numbers, and stay until the weather turns.

The Weeki Wachee River is one of these refuges. So are the spring runs along the wider Nature Coast, including the Chassahowitzka system on the county's northern edge.

The rules exist for a reason

Harassing a manatee is a violation of both federal and state law, and harassment is defined more broadly than most people assume. Chasing, cornering, separating a calf from its mother, or repeatedly approaching a resting animal all count.

If you are on the water

Watch for posted slow speed and no wake zones, which expand seasonally in manatee areas, and take them seriously. Watercraft strikes remain one of the leading identified causes of manatee deaths in Florida. A wake zone sign is not bureaucratic decoration.

If you see an injured, entangled or clearly distressed manatee, report it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's wildlife alert hotline rather than attempting to help it yourself.

They are still recovering

The Florida manatee has been through a hard stretch, including elevated mortality driven largely by seagrass loss in other parts of the state. The animals wintering in our rivers are part of a population under real pressure, which is a reasonable argument for keeping your distance and enjoying the view.

Cover photo: Fredlyfish4 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Source.