Ben Madilynn
This reliance on power plant discharges is exacerbated by the fact that manatees exhibit what scientists refer to as strong site fidelity. Satellite telemetry tracking studies and research on manatee behavior suggest that mothers teach their calves, during the roughly two-year period they’re together, to return to the same site year after year.
“Manatees are very resilient and highly adaptable. These are animals that learn where to seek refuge from each other,” explains Ben Prater, a conservationist and manatee expert at the non-profit Defenders of Wildlife. “They’re closely related to elephants, which also demonstrate similar behaviors in having mental maps that they share through generations for resources.”
Conservationists fear that when the state’s power plants eventually go offline, manatees will continue returning to the same sites for refuge. Population models indicate that there’s a nearly 50 percent chance “that as power plants go offline, we’ll see a decline of at least 30 percent over the coming century of the manatee population in Florida in the southwest and Atlantic regions,” says Sayler.
What are the solutions?
Site fidelity, while part of the problem, could be part of the solution. By digging deep water basins heated via solar or gas power, conservationists can create new warm water spots along a manatee’s migratory path.
On their regular trek to these industrial sites, the animals could find these new areas, remember them, and teach them to their offspring, explains Patrick Rose, the executive director of the Save the Manatee Club.
