Swimming with manatees is a special opportunity that must be treated with care.
For the best experience seek out USCG licensed masters for your “in water guides”, keep your distance and never touch or disturb a manatee. They are gentle creatures that should be left in peace. Interfering with the way they swim and their schedule of coming to the surface to breathe (especially if you get in the way of a baby) can be cruel and harmful.
In this video, you can listen to the manatees grazing and communicating. See mom and baby swimming together and the baby nursing! Do you think it’s cute? Notice the hairs on the baby that help it navigate. When the music stops, listen for the baby making sounds, communicating with mom. We learned so much during and after our manatee encounter.
Take the Manatee Quiz
We created a fun quiz at the end of the video. Try to answer the multiple-choice questions. For each question, the incorrect answers will fly off the page leaving the correct answer. The scene directly following explains more about the topic.
Know a student interested in manatees or animal conservation? This video would be a great resource for a school project.
Topics covered in the manatee quiz:
- How often manatees swim to the surface to breathe.
- Why it’s so important not to disturb a manatee.
- Characteristics manatees have in common with a popular land animal.
- What manatees eat, how they eat and how much they eat.
- How fast manatees can swim.
- When manatees migrate to Crystal River, Florida and why they migrate.
- If manatees have natural predators.
- Manatee causes of death.
- How mommy and baby manatee interact.
- How to swim with manatees and whether the bite.
Protect the Manatees
Viewing this video may inspire you to support the protection of manatees!
Thank you to Captain Ron and Captain Lauren from Gulf Coast Expeditions, Crystal River Florida. (Not a paid promotion. We paid for the trip ourselves – this business simply deserves a shout out.)
MUSIC “TOGETHER ON OUR OWN” “SHE DREAMS IN BLUE” “CHERUBS” by Josh Woodward Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
