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One morning while doing my sea turtle surveys near Jupiter Island, Florida, I came across a group of nine manatees (one female, seven males, and one possible juvenile) mating on the south end of St. Lucie Inlet. There was one small manatee that looked like it was trying to nurse, while all the others looked like they wanted to mate. The female kept going into shallow water to keep them away. I spoke with the park ranger a few days later, and she said the manatees stayed in the cove well past 4:00 p.m., and she also said she counted 13 individuals. It was so amazing! --Irene Arpayoglou |
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