Manatees of Homosassa

Until I had seen one in person, I had always thought of manatees as something like a slow moving walrus or elephant seal in body shape. Rounded. Even the artwork at Homosassa Springs, like a stained glass window next to the front door, depicts them like that. So I guess I can be excused for not recognizing them when I first saw them. From the top they resemble flattish mossy rocks, so still that ducks walk on them! I'd say a better description of a manatee would be a fat pancake with stubs for legs, snout and tail. They're easy to distinguish from a rolling stone because of the mossy tops, actually algae.

Likely their vegetarian diet contributes to their general lack of movement, soaking up sun and wasting little energy. It also helps that they can hold their breath for very long periods. When they do move, at speed for them, they barely leave a wake. But they can, apparently , be trained to come to a certain location at regular intervals for food handouts. This is called putting on a show for Homosassa visitors, and benches are set up so they can watch the trainer enter the water in waders and carrying a bucket of carrots which he distributes along with a canned speech. We saw six at once, maximum, as they come and go - slowly - and he named them as he fed them. For all the differences I could see in size and shape, he could have been making up names on the spot and we'd never know the difference.

Two things happen after the presentation ends, besides most of the crowd moving on. Ducks come in to eat the bits of carrot left behind, and lots and lots of lettuce and other leafy greens are dumped from the railing of a deck over an underwater viewing platform where one can wander over and see them from below water level as they eat.

The area they are in connects to the Gulf, and this is what concerns me right now. As the oil spill grows and spreads, the projected route is eastward to Florida, down to the keys, up the east side, and then presumably the Gulf Stream will carry it out into the Atlantic and over to England. Long before that happens, however, it will invade their sanctuary at Homosassa.

What then will happen to these gentle giants?