If you’re on a Florida waterway, you may encounter some manatees that appear to be splashing and cavorting. But, Florida wildlife officials say that’s actually the sea cows breeding and they’re asking the public to give the marine mammals some space.
Kane Rigney is a manatee biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He says manatee mating behavior can occur in deep or shallow waters.
“The easiest way to identify a mating herd is when there are groups, a large number of manatees that look to be frolicking with each other in shallow waters, generally climbing on top of each other,” he said, in a video. “There will be up to 20 to 25 manatees in some circumstances with a single focal female, and there will be a lot of splashing, a lot of physical interaction with the manatees, kind of like a big bait-ball of fish, but you’ll see the manatees up on shore, rolling on top of each other and climbing.”
And, these manatee mating herds can mainly be seen in the Spring, but Rigney says they come out during the Summer as well.
“Mating can start as early as March and can go all the way through the Summer time into the October-November season,” he added. “They occur regularly throughout the day. There’s no real given time on when they occur. Usually around sunrise is when people witness them. We get calls first thing in the morning, around 7 a.m. and they can last up until the evening until 7 at night.”
Rigney says when they’re mating, male manatees have one thing in mind. So, he adds it’s important the public keeps their distance and observes from afar, because sea cows are not really paying attention to their surroundings.
“We generally ask the public to stay away from mating herds—we like to allow that natural process to take place,” he continued. “Any interruption to that process can be considered harassment—but not only for manatee safety, but also for human safety. A lot of these manatees that you will see are thousand pound animals and at any time, those animals can change their behavior and roll onto a human causing very serious injury.”
Rigney says the FWC urges the public to call their Wildlife Alert hotline if they spot a mating herd, or a potential stranding—like, if a manatee is beached or stuck in shallow water.
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