This series is a look at manatee tails as portraits. Each tail corresponds to an individual manatee, with the animal’s name marked beneath. These aquatic mammals have evolved to live low-stakes lifestyles, having no natural predators and persisting on a mainly vegetarian diet. However, they bare scarring patterns so distinctive that they can be used to accurately identify individuals. In fact, the Manatee Individual Photo-identification System (MIPS) is a catalogue of information concerning the population of manatees including information on migration patterns, family trees, medical records, and more. Conservationists and researchers are able to easily identify individual manatees during their studies by looking at the scarring patterns on the manatees’ backs and tails and then referencing this database to find them by image. Such scarring patterns are caused by various human interferences, such as boat strikes, canal locks, and infections from harmful agal blooms. However, the greatest threat to manatees is habitat loss and their downgraded status from endangered to threatened in early 2017 can be attributed to pressure from lobbyists representing land development companies. With only about 6,000 manatees in the wild with an average of 490 deaths per year, this down-listing is a dangerous step in the wrong direction for the conservation of this species.
For more information about manatees as well as symbolic adoption information and other ways to help with conservation efforts, visit the Save the Manatee website at www.savethemanatee.org.
For more information about manatees as well as symbolic adoption information and other ways to help with conservation efforts, visit the Save the Manatee website at www.savethemanatee.org.