Is Chessie Up to His Old Tricks
or Is It a Manatee Named Tappie?

Florida travelin' manatee Chessie has been known to get irresistible urges to swim way up north, as far as Rhode Island! (Photo courtesy USGS Sirenia Project)

By Janice Nearing
Director of Public Relations

There's no doubt about it, Chessie the Florida manatee, loves to go a-wandering. That's why researchers, Save the Manatee Club members, other conservationists, and the media are all a-wondering if the manatee recently spotted in the Hudson River in New York, is in fact, Chessie.

Often referred to as "the traveling manatee," Chessie was sighted in July of 1994 in the northern Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Since Chessie was in no apparent hurry to return home to Florida, and water temperatures below 68 degrees can be dangerous for manatees, he had to be rescued. On October 1st he was captured and flown to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with financial help from Save the Manatee Club. He was then flown to Florida by the U.S. Coast Guard, where he was eventually released near Cape Canaveral. As summer drew near, Chessie got the traveling bug again so he headed back up north as far as Point Judith, Rhode Island. This time he returned home on his own, but the tracking device he had been tagged with was lost along the way. He was next identified in Jacksonville, Florida in November, 1995. In 1996, a Club researcher at Port Everglades in South Florida retagged him, but at some point during that year, Chessie lost the tag and his whereabouts has been unknown ever since.

"If this is Chessie," says Patrick Rose, Save the Manatee Club's Executive Director, "it would be his 10 year check-in." It has been speculated though that this is yet another wandering male manatee who some have named Tappie.

In 1998, a manatee was sighted in water bodies in Delaware and then in Long Island, however researchers were unable to confirm his identity before he disappeared again. So, is the manatee currently causing all the fuss in the Hudson River really Chessie? And what's going to happen to him? According to a recent New York Times column, the manatee was last spotted swimming south, which is a good thing, because fall is fast approaching. Chessie or not, hopefully this independent manatee, who has people around the world concerned about his well-being, will continue a steady trek homeward to the Sunshine State, where the other manatees roam.

Get more information on Chessie from
the U.S. Geological Survey Sirenia Project