Meet Lenny
He's Blue Spring’s resident “couch potato” manatee
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Also nicknamed "sleepyhead" by Ranger Wayne Hartley, Lenny seems to prefer rest to all other activities. (Photo © Walker Stanberry/SMC )
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Generally speaking, manatees are animals your dad might relate to. Large, gentle and slow-moving, most of their time is spent eating and sleeping. And if you were to adopt a manatee for your dad, you might want to think about selecting Lenny.
Affectionately known as Blue Spring State Park’s resident “couch potato” manatee, Lenny seems to prefer rest to all other activities. He has also been nicknamed “sleepyhead” by Ranger Wayne Hartley, who ventures out early in the morning to identify and count the manatees at Blue Spring. When Ranger Wayne takes his canoe out for manatee roll call, he usually finds Lenny snoozing somewhere in the spring run.
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Lenny (left) as a youngster with his mom Luna.
(Photo courtesy of FDEP)
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Lenny was born to Luna, another Blue Spring manatee, in 1978. Researchers know this because Luna was accompanied by Lenny (then a calf) the first year she was identified at the spring. Small in size as a calf and still relatively small for an adult, Lenny was “a runt then, and he’s still a runt now,” says Ranger Wayne. Lenny’s siblings include Lunatic, Liza, Lester, and Lucretia. His younger sister Lucille is also a Blue Spring adoptee.
Until her death from unknown causes in 1997, Luna never missed a winter season at Blue Spring. Like his mother, Lenny is a Blue Spring regular and has been spending the winter there ever since he was born. If Lenny was a houseguest, he might be one of your favorites as he always arrives on time and leaves early. He is known for arriving at the start of the manatee season in November and usually heads out in advance of the summer come February. But even though he stays for a shorter amount of time (the manatee season usually lasts until March), Lenny still puts in a fair number of visits at Blue Spring each year.
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Taking advantage of the sanctuary area at Blue Spring, manatees snooze peacefully in the spring run.
(Photo © Walker Stanberry/SMC )
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Although he’s a sedentary-type of guy, Lenny has suffered a number of boat hits and is recognizable by his distinctive scars – particularly on his tail. Still, he’s apparently not very photogenic for a manatee. “He’s always around, but somehow his pictures are always lousy,” observes Ranger Wayne. When he’s not sleeping, Lenny exhibits his social side. He has been spotted in the company of Howie, Deep Dent, Robin, Brutus, Nick, and Lily.
Ranger Wayne notes that last year was a warm season and many manatees adopted Lenny’s mode of visiting. They started showing up as normal in November but then “wandered off not to be seen again, as it was so warm.” True to form, this season Lenny arrived on November 22nd in the company of Elaine, Lily, Merlin, and Nick and then struck out on his own on February 22nd. And, of course, he spent the majority of his visits snoozing peacefully in the Blue Spring Run.
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Nope, not Lenny -- he takes lousy pictures, remember? Lenny is the manatee at right with the two scars on his side. (Photo © Walker Stanberry/SMC) |
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Get answers to your manatee questions by
visiting the Manatee FAQ page.
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