While you are staying in you Orlando Florida vacation villas, private or Disney World rental home, we suggest you take time to see some manatees.
Manatees are sometimes known as "sea cows and is one of the most delightful creatures to be found in Florida. They are very gentle sea creatures and are mostly herbivores. Grazing in shallow waters off the coast of Florida, or in rivers. They feed on many different types of plants such as mangrove leaves, and even certain types of algae. If you take a very close look at their faces you can see that has a split upper lip, which allows them to eat the plant easily. Surprisingly, a manatee adult can eat almost 9% of their body weight per day, rising to about 30 pounds. They only have 6 teeth that are constantly falling and must be replaced.
Manatees can grow to a length of between 9 feet and 10 feet and can weigh up to 1,200 pounds, females are usually heavier. They do not swim very quickly, usually about 3 to 5 miles per hour, but can swim at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour for short periods of time. The manatee uses its paddle-shaped tail to propel itself forward, as it glides across the water.
A baby manatee weighs no less than 15 pounds and an adult can live for anything up to 60 years. Only breed every two years, and its gestation period lasts about 12 months. They give birth to one offspring, which feeds on its mother for up to 18 months. In fact, manatees are very intelligent, and can demonstrate the kind of learning task and discrimination usually associated with dolphins. They also show signs of having a long-term memory, besides being able to understand the discrimination tasks. Unlike dolphins, however, the manatee is in general a creature solitary and spends most of his life on his own.
Florida is the ideal place for manatees to live as they have a low metabolic rate, which means that can not withstand low temperatures. In fact, they can not survive temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius, which migrate to the warm spring-fed rivers during the winter months.
If you want to see manatees in the winter, then Crystal River and Blue Springs are the places to go. Here the water is kept at a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celsius all year, so the manatees congregate around these hot springs.
Unfortunately, manatees are very vulnerable. Although they have few natural enemies, apart from the sharks, whales, crocodiles and alligators, it is man made hazards which are the main trouble. Manatees are particularly susceptible to injury from boats and their propellers. Many carry the scars manatee altercations with motor boats, and the wounds are often fatal. In fact, is illegal under Florida law because of injury or harm manatees. However, while the Florida Fish and Conservation of Living Wildlife Commission does not recognize them as endangered, must be protected, so they have been declared as "endangered", while low Federal law still in danger of extinction.
If you are lucky enough to visit Orlando in the winter months, from mid-November, then they have the opportunity to visit one of their winter habitats. They are very friendly and not aggressive creatures who are curious. A visit to Crystal River and Blue Springs will be well worthwhile, as the manatees congregate in the waters heated by the springs. You can even swim with them here.
Crystal River visited a while ago and took a tour to swim with manatees and was a wonderful experience overall and highly recommended by him. The trip begins early (around 6:30), as this is the best time to see them in action. It is supplied with a wetsuit, fins, snorkel, and even an underwater camera to take some memorable photos. floats are available for people who are not good swimmers. They took us out into the river where manatees live and found that about 20 minutes later. Note that no no guarantee that you will see them, but most days you will be there. The captain stopped the boat and went down to the very, very cool water and take a look around. The captain of the boat just makes a day trip and so we were able to spend as much time as we liked in the water. We had about two hours and not was pushed back to the boat at all. We swam around with manatees, stroking and took photos. I highly recommend this trip to everyone.
This article was written by Phil Cornwall. Designer and owner of holiday homes in Orlando Florida and Disney World private websites dwelling href = "http://www.floridasuntime.com/"> http://www.floridasuntime.com and href = "http://www.simply-florida.com/"> http://www.simply-florida.com where You can get the best deals on holiday villas in Florida
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This article was written by Phil Cornish. Designer and owner of Disney villas and villas in Florida FloridaSunTime , DisneyvillasinFlorida and Simply-Florida where you can get great deals on Florida vacation villas
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Manatees in Florida
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