E67 Naturally Scott Adventures – Florida Manatees: Gentle Giants of Crystal River 🐋🌿

Welcome to another edition of Naturally Scott Adventures, where Scott Harris takes you into the field to experience some of North America's most remarkable wildlife and wild places.

In this episode, Scott visits Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge on Florida's Gulf Coast to meet one of the state's most beloved residents—the Florida manatee. These gentle marine mammals, often called "sea cows," can weigh well over 1,000 pounds, yet they're among the most peaceful animals you'll ever encounter. 

Scott explores the biology, behavior, and conservation of Florida manatees, explaining why they gather each winter in Florida's warm springs, how boat strikes became their greatest threat, and why Crystal River has become one of the best places in the world to observe them responsibly. 

The episode also celebrates one of America's great wildlife success stories, as Florida's manatee population has rebounded dramatically thanks to conservation efforts, public awareness, and protected habitat. 

In this episode:

🐋 Why manatees are called "sea cows"

🌿 Exploring Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge

💙 Swimming and kayaking with manatees (responsibly)

👶 Mothers, calves, and manatee family life

🚤 The dangers of boat strikes

🌡️ Why warm springs are critical for survival

📈 The remarkable recovery of Florida's manatee population

Whether you're planning a Florida adventure or simply love wildlife, this episode offers an unforgettable look at one of North America's gentlest giants.

👉 Subscribe for updates and bonus content:
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome to this episode of Naturally Scott. I'm your host, Scott Harris, and this is gonna be one of our uh Naturally Scott Adventures episodes, uh something we've been doing recently and having a blast, where instead of a human guest, we actually have um an animal or location as our guest. And so um I will be the only human on the show, and I'm looking forward to this one. Um, it is going to be about manatees. Uh manatees are a really cool animal. Um, West Indian manatees is the big grouping. Uh, we're gonna be talking today about one of the subspecies, which is a Florida manatee, which, you know, not surprisingly, we're gonna be focusing on Florida today. Now, we've got some great videos and some great photos that we're gonna be sharing with you guys, and I hope you're gonna enjoy those and uh learning a bit about manatees and their lives and why they're exciting to see and why they're a little bit fun and a little bit different. And so let's get right to it. Um, they are commonly called sea cows. Uh, that is what they are known as, um, mostly by the locals, but by people that study them and go watch them. And it's kind of cool. They are huge animals. Um, they can weigh roughly 800 to 1,200 pounds, and they grow to a length of nine to ten feet. Um, but some of the big ones, some of the big boys, can weigh up to 3,500 pounds, just short of two tons, and they are huge animals. They're slow moving, and they are fascinating to watch. They can be friendly, um, and we're going to learn where you can find them and where you can see them. That's part of what this is about today, part of the adventure. They are a marine mammal. So, uh, in the way that sea lions and whales and orcas are marine mammals. But one of the things that's fascinating about manatees is their closest relatives are not other marine mammals, but they're elephants and hyraxes. Um, and so it's just kind of one of those weird, uh, odd little things that comes up uh in the animal world. Uh, they are this is a marine mammal, it's a massive marine mammal, and it's more closely related to an elephant than it is to a whale. I will tell you one of the things that's really neat um about manatees is that they are good mothers. Excuse me. Thank you. They take care of their babies for up to two years. Of course, we'll have some pictures here of uh of mothers and babies, um, but they do look after their babies for quite a while. Uh, they are slow growing in that way, and this gives the mothers a chance to teach them all of the things that they need in order to exist and continue to go forward. And the Florida manatees have some challenges, and we're going to talk about some of those challenges. One of them is this they are very slow moving, they have a slow metabolism, which requires them to eat a lot. They spend six to eight hours per day eating. Um, and uh they'll eat 10 to 15 percent of their body weight on any given day. Now, one of the things that is difficult for them uh is because they are slow moving, um the largest cause of injuries and death to the manatees are boat propellers. Uh the manatees come up, they're just below the surface, the boats can't see them, the props go right over them. As a matter of fact, there may not be a mature Florida manatee living in Florida that does not have boat scars on it. And the boat scars are so distinctive, the propeller scars are so distinctive. They work the way that our human fingerprints work. Or if you're familiar with humpback whales, they're flukes, the back tail, if you will. When that fluke comes up, if the whale's about to dive down, if you look at the back of that fluke, um, that is as unique as a fingerprint. And so you can actually, if you take a photograph of that, you can send it to a place called Happy Whale. Ted Cheesman runs that. He's been a guest on our show in the past. And I've used it for a number of the humpback whales that I've been able to photograph in Southern California and Monterey and up into Alaska. And you can get these reports on where these uh whales have gone and visited. I just got a report that showed that one of the whales that I saw in Alaska had gone to Russia, which is pretty cool. And another one that I'd seen in Monterey had gone down to Baja and over to Hawaii and then back to Monterey. Anyway, I digress a little bit, which I tend to do. Um, but these propeller uh scars on these manatees are distinctive enough that those who research them can identify the manatees uh by those scars. So it's unfortunate that they can get them. The only possible silver lining is that we can keep track of them and know who we are. Um they surface every three to five minutes in general, um, although they can stay down for up to 20 minutes while they're eating. So, once again, the advantage of moving slow, they take in some oxygen and off they go. They're really good at regulating their depth. Um, they're magical at that. And so they can drop down just below the surface and be comfortable, even take a nap, slowly drift back up to the surface, get some oxygen, and then come on back down. Now, we're gonna be talking about a place called Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, which is over on the west coast of uh Florida. It's a great place, and we're gonna have some fun um talking about that place and how you can see a lot of this stuff in action. So that's really cool. Now, one of the things that is incredibly important for manatees is water temperature. So in the summer, uh, when the water is warm, manatees can spread out. They'll go as far west as Texas, they'll go as far north as Massachusetts, and so they cover a big territory. But when that water starts to chill up in the fall and especially early winter, they start to go back and consolidate in Florida. They leave these other places and come back. And what they're looking for is warm water. Now, Florida has warm water in general, but even in Florida, in a cold snap, that water will dip below uh the danger temperature for manatees. And that danger temperature for manatees is 68 degrees. If they are in water that is below 68 degrees, it can be traumatic, even deadly for a manatee. And so it is critical that they have warm water. And that is where Florida comes into play. And we'll talk about some of the springs and the power plants and the role that they play. But let's take another look because people are gonna say, wait a minute, you've got this massive, you know, one to two ton animal that's gotta be a lot of blubber to keep them warm. We think about blubber in the way that we do with seals or sea lions or whales or other marine mammals. Um, but that is not the case with the manatees. Uh, that huge size is very, very little blubber. Actually, most of it is their massive digestive tract because they, again, they're processing so much vegetation in order to eat, let's say, a thousand-pound manatee might be eating 125 pounds of vegetation in a day. They have to process that, and it takes this massive digestive tract to do that. So they do not have room in their bodies for blubber, and so they don't have it. And so they're not able to protect themselves uh from the cold. And that's why they head back to Florida in the winter and they head back to their natural hot springs and the power plant outflows. And we've we've built power plants along the coast and in some of the areas of Florida, and the water that comes out of those is warm. So it has become a gathering spot for the manatees, and it is one of the benefits of having those power plants out there, is we are providing a safe haven for the manatees, and that's a really cool thing. Now, Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge is the spot we're going to focus some time on today. I've been down there a bunch of times. It's beautiful. Um, as a matter of fact, I was down there recently with our producer, Frank Sierra. We went down there in uh Franklin Lille, but I think about January or February of this year. I went back down in April to do a little more research. Um, but it's a beautiful place. We'll throw a video up now and you can see this place. It looks tropical. There's Spanish moss coming down. It's absolutely stunning. Um, when I was there recently, there were no manatees, and it was still a beautiful place to see uh Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. We're talking about the Three Sisters Springs. There's three different springs that are connected. It's a short area, it's maybe 150 yards from one end to the other. There's a boardwalk that goes almost all the way around it. The only place where it doesn't go around is the little uh path that the manatees take to go in and out. They go out into the lagoon. Um, and so there's no boardwalk there, but the rest of it is boardwalk and you can walk around. And what's great about this is it stays a 70, 72 degrees, a steady 72 degrees year-round. And so you've got this warm water, which isn't a big deal at all. Um, in the summer, it's not a big deal on warm days, but when cold snaps hit and you'll see the sides of these pools, you can literally have hundreds of manatees in there gathering up for the warmth. Now, a lot of times they'll leave during the day and go out to feed and just come back at night and stay warm, um, full families, mothers with their babies, and it's it's critical for their safety. And there are other places in Florida, there are other springs that people like. There are, again, we mentioned the power plant outflows uh that some people seem to like. But Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge is a wild place in a number of ways. First of all, it's the only national wildlife refuge in our system. And we have roughly 600, I think, in the system that was really designed for a single animal, which is the manatee. That was the primary reason that the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge was created, was to have a safe haven for these manatees to be able to manage this. And so it's a little bit curated, it has that curated feel because it's got the boardwalk that goes around it. And when you go there and you visit, um, you're not you can't actually park at the refuge. You can go across the street, it's well marked, it's easy to find. You buy a ticket, you go and you walk in. It's maybe a quarter mile walk down to the boardwalk. Um, if walking's not your thing, even a quarter mile, they've got a tram that'll take you over there or a van. Not a tram, they have a van that will take you over there and pick you up, drop you right off at the boardwalk. Um, but the hike itself, by the way, is pretty cool. Uh while manatees are the focus, it's a great bird watching place. And we'll throw some pictures up here of some cormorants and some yellow rump warblers. Um, but there's a ton of different birds that you can see um uh throughout the year as you visit. And then there are some trails that go through. There is a big bay off to the side that has manatees at certain parts of the year. So it's a neat place to see. But honestly, the reason you go is for the manatees, and the time to go is in the winter. And you can follow the weather, you can go to their website and follow the weather. And um, we'll throw that uh that uh URL up here on the screen. But you can see, and when it starts to get cold, if you can, if you have flexibility in your schedule, that's when you want to go down. That's when you want to visit. Because the colder it is, uh, the more manatees that collect in Three Sisters Spring. And um, it is really a blast to see them. Now, if you go down and visit, you can actually swim with the manatees. You can kayak and you can swim. There are organized tours that take place, come in through the lagoon, you go through that same little entry portal, um, that same little creek, if you will, as the manatees do. And then you come in and there are certain areas where you can swim. Now, they require a wetsuit and they require that you have a uh pool noodle under your arms. And the reason for that is you are not allowed to go underwater. That is not uh something that they want to happen. You can't touch the manatees, you can't go underwater. You can actually kayak in uh in the springs, or you can swim around and paddle around and and uh throw on a mask and look, and it's beautiful. Um, but you are not allowed to go underwater and you're not allowed to touch them. Now, years ago when I was a younger man and before these regulations came in place, and by the way, I'm a huge fan of the regulations. Don't misunderstand me. Um I was naive and ignorant at the time. Um, but it used to be that you were allowed to scuba dive with manatees. You could take these uh specialized scuba trips um out in the summer and you could scuba dive with the manatees, which I did more than once. And it was really spectacular to do. Not allowed anymore and uh for good reason. But there is something about being underwater with these magnificent animals, having them come and swim right up to you. It's like when I've done some diving out on the west coast of California, you get that a lot with the seals and the sea lions, is they'll come right up, they'll even tap right on your uh uh right on your mask. I've had that happen with uh with the sea lions, which is pretty exciting. So I had the opportunity to do that with the manatees, and it's really it's an it's an it's a great memory for me, and it was a fantastic thing to be able to do. You just kind of go underwater and hang out and let them-I mean, if you're good about these things, you don't chase them. Um, but we would just sit on the bottom and they would just come up to you. They're not asking for food, you didn't feed them. Um, they would just come up out of curiosity or companionship or whatever it might be and brush up against you. And again, out of ignorance, um, I would reach out and and pet them. Um, and it's a it's a great memory, one that I'm a little bit embarrassed about. I'm glad the regulations have changed. Um, but now you go out on these various tours and and the three sisters at Crystal River is the best place to do it. But you can go right in and look down. And these manatees are swimming three feet underneath you. I mean, they are right underneath you. You're not missing anything by not being able to dive with them. You are expected to not reach down and touch them. Um, and we could throw some shots up here of people actually out there swimming and kayaking, which is a really neat thing to see. So if you get the opportunity and you are so motivated, please do that. But if you're not motivated to do that, no big deal. You go out, you go to the boardwalk, and as I said, you can walk around that boardwalk for 98% coverage, just the one little entry and exit point that it doesn't cover. And you are looking right down on the manatees. Um, and the water is shallow, and it's called Crystal River for a reason. It is crystal clear. You can absolutely see the bottom. There are fish swimming around with the manatees. Manatees don't eat fish, so no big deal. The fish feel safe there. But you can see to the bottom, and so you can see the manatees, and you can watch them come up, and they'll bring their nostrils up and they're covered in whiskers, and then they blow out, and there's this big spray of water, which is really fun to see. Um, and they'll and they're just a blast to watch. Um, and then if you go and stand at the end of that boardwalk uh where the inlet is, um, you can watch them swimming back out into the into the lagoon for the day or coming back into Three Sisters as as they're full or as they want to warm up. And um, because the babies stay with the mothers uh for up to two years, anytime you see them, you're gonna see babies. Um I'm some of them are juveniles, maybe not babies, but you're gonna see mother and child on occasion, mother and twins, um, or um, you know, just a really neat thing to see. And you'll be able to tell which of the big bulls, which are the which are the big boys, because they're they are massive. And so and the boardwalks are very well kept. Um they've got people all along the boardwalks, docents um to answer your questions, and they're very well versed in manatee lore. Um, and they're excited and happy to be there, which is why they volunteer their time. And they'll sit and talk with you for a half an hour, an hour, if it's not too crowded, and answer all your questions and share their experience, their highlight day when there was 578 manatees there in one day, and you hear all these great stories, and you're meeting people that are interesting and interested. One of the things that I love about it, um, and it's a bit a little bit of an adjustment for me, because honestly, I like quiet and silence when I'm out uh with my animals. Um, I'm a big fan of that. If I can be by myself, that's great. Um, but I I'm not really great with crowds. It's not my favorite way to watch natural things happen or nature or animals. But there's something different about this place. You go on the boardwalk and people come out. Of course, there's a lot of kids, you know, younger kids, six, eight, ten, twelve years old, and they're excited. This is not a library to them. This is outdoors. And once you immerse yourself in that, or at least for me personally, and allow that to happen, um, and you watch these kids and they're running up and down the boardwalk and they're screaming about the big one that they found, or the mom with two babies, or the fish, or whatever it might be. And once you get into that and start to share that joy uh with these young people, it brings a whole new dimension to this. And the manatees don't care. I've never seen the manatees react to a human being in all the times I've been down there. I just haven't seen it. Um, I assume there's probably some idiot that jumps in once a year and that will change things up. Um, but outside of that, uh, just not an issue. And so it's a really fun thing. It's just part of the joy that happens. I've also been there when I'm completely by myself, when there are so few people there. Well, actually, literally by myself, there's no docents or anything. You're just there all alone. And that's a whole special and a whole different thing. Um, they don't open till 8 a.m., by the way, just so we're clear. So, as uh regular listeners know, I'm a big fan of dawn um and getting out at different places at dawn, but this isn't one of those where that happens. So you get there at 8 a.m., it closes around dusk, um, and you can spend as many hours as you want out there. Now, these are an ecological success story, the manatees. Back in the 1990s, um, which is when I was doing my diving with them. Back in the 1990s, the population had dropped to about 1,200, maybe 1,500 manatees total. And today it's up to over 8,000. Now, that's a lot of different reasons. It's not just the diving. The diving didn't really have that big of an impact. But there have been massive awareness campaigns with regards to the danger propellers in boats, um, in speed boats and dive boats and pontoon boats, as well as larger boats and even ships. And as people become aware, they set up some slow zones and drop the speed down, which gives you a chance to spot the manatee, or manatee the chance to spot you and drop down or swim and get out of the way. And that program has had a massive success. And they have raised the number of manatees by a factor of five or six in just 30 years. So that is just brilliant. And there's no reason to think it won't continue. I'm not certain how many manatees can live overall in that area, how much food there is to support it. I know when the hurricanes come through, that can be dangerous for the manatees. One, of course, the hurricane itself can take some out. But two, it can wipe away the grasses and the food that they eat. And there have been times in the last few years when humans have had to jump in and dump in tons of lettuce uh to feed the animals while the grass was rebuilding and regrowing. But we've done that. I mean, we've done the things that we need to do. This is a huge success story. The National Wildlife Refuge, the propeller awareness campaigns, um, the dropping of the speed limits, and making all of us aware of what's happening, jumping in on occasion when they need it to help them survive. And as a result, we have this growing large, healthy community of manatees that we have an opportunity to go see. And um we have an opportunity to enjoy them. And again, in the summer, let's say you can do that from Texas all the way around up to Massachusetts. Not nearly as common, not nearly in the in the same numbers, um, but they are there and they're worth looking for. You're down in Mississippi or Alabama, take a peek because you just might find a manatee or two. So that's that's a pretty cool thing, too. Hey, I'm gonna throw my email up here. It's Scott at naturally. Scott.com. If you've got questions or follow-ups, please share them with me. I am happy to answer every email I get. I'm really excited about that. And I want to remind you guys, I'm working on a book right now called American Safaris. There's 25 chapters in the book, and every chapter is about a special animal around the country. Eight of the chapters are on birds, eight are on marine mammals, eight are on terrestrial mammals, and the 25th chapter is on alligators, because you got to have alligators. And every one of the chapters focuses on if you go to a certain place at a certain time, you're almost guaranteed to see the animal that the chapter is about. And the Florida manatee is one of those chapters that will be in the book. And it is just an exciting thing for me. Florida's just a great state overall for these things. My alligator chapter is based in Florida. My Osprey chapter is based in Florida. So you get down to Florida and they're, oh, and the Burrowing Owls chapter is based in Florida. Four chapters out of 25 based in Florida. And so if you do go to Florida and you go down to Crystal River, you're going to be really close to the alligators at Big Cypress National Preserve. And you're going to be really close to the burrowing owls at Cape Coral. And so that we're aware, the alligators at Big Cypress National Preserve at a thing called the Loop, which is right off of Highway 41. It's a 24-mile dirt road filled with alligators year-round, absolutely year-round. And the burrowing owls can be found in Cape Coral, which is the self-proclaimed burrowing owl capital of the world. They are there year-round as well and easy to find. They actually live in town. Their burrows, they're the only owl in the country that burrows. Their burrows are marked by PVC pipes. You're allowed to walk up to the edge of the PVC pipes and watch these little guys. They're right there on the dirt. They are cute as the dickens. We'll throw a couple pictures up of owls and alligators for fun. So there's a lot to do when you get down there besides seeing the manatees. But the manatees are a highlight. I gotta tell you, they really are. If you're watching on YouTube, I appreciate it. Do me a favor, reach over and hit subscribe. Every time you do our YouTube, uh our videos, our podcasts go out to more people, YouTube pushes them out. And the more people that watch, I think the better it is for conservation. Uh we can bring in different guests, the messages get out there, and it's fun for me. Um if you feel so so compelled, drop a comment or hit like. Always love to get those. Um and uh at as I say at the end of every one of my podcasts, I encourage you to get outside. Outside can be your front porch, it can be your backyard, it can be a local park, it can be the Serengeti, it can be anywhere. But when you get a chance, get outside because you're almost always, if not always, going to see something due and different and exciting and fun, something that'll get your heart racing and reward you for being out there. And when you do, whenever you're outside, whether it's about nature or not, make sure you stay safe and stay curious. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Scott Harris, your host of Naturally Scott. Today it's Naturally Scott Adventures, Florida Manatees. I hope you've enjoyed learning about the manatees. I hope you've enjoyed the videos and photos we've shared, and I hope it encourages you if you get a chance. January, February, December, those are the best months. It's winter. Watch for the cold, get out there and see them. You will call and thank me. All right now. Have a great day. Thanks very much.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

You've been listening to Naturally Scott with Scott Harris. Naturally Scott is hosted by Scott Harris, produced by Justin Harris, directed and edited by Frank Sierra. Follow us on our YouTube channel at Naturally Scott and Instagram at Naturally Scott Harris. If this conversation resonated with you, please follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Naturally Scott thanks you for viewing and listening to this podcast.