South Florida Museum Welcomes 2 New Manatees

Two young manatees are on their way to recovery after arriving at the South Florida Museum on Thursday afternoon. 

Longo and Cheeno, both males, joined the world's oldest known manatee in captivity, Snooty, in the museum's tank after a trip from the Lowry Park Zoo.

The two calves sufferred from cold stress, essentially a type of frost bite, and are underweight as a result. 

Long was rescued off of Longboat Key in January 2012, weighs 675 pounds, while Cheeno was rescued in the Caloosahatchee River in February 2012, and weighs 465 pounds. 

“We like manatees to be about 800 pounds at release, and if they are going to be tagged, they need to be big enough for the belt we put at the base of the tail to fit well,” said Marilyn Margold, the Museum’s director of living collections.

Manatees are more of a loner mammal than a social one, so while the company with Snooty is appreciated, they'll mainly have to start learning on their own how to seek out warm water and food.

"They have to learn their own ropes," said Jeff Rodgers, director of education at the museum. "They can't rely on Snooty to teach them." 

Manatees try to stay in water 68 degrees or warmer, and during the winter months, seek out warm springs or hot water churned from power plants, such as the Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric in Apollo Beach. Extended exposure to cold water can cause skin lesions and pneumonia, according to the museum's staff.

The Lowry Park Zoo, specializes in critical care for injured and sick manatees, and have improved well enough to continue treatment at South Florida Museum for the next year until they are ready to be released into the wild, Rodgers said.

The museum also helped manatees Charlie and Epac, the most recent tank mates for Snooty, and released both in the past several weeks.

The public can view Long, Cheeno and Snooty all included in museum's general admission tickets.