Record Baby Manatees Found Dead In Florida
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Three years ago, manatees in Florida were dying in record numbers. Now their babies are dying, too.
Some 130 manatee calves were found dead in Florida this year as of Aug. 23. That's nearly twice the five-year average to date, and more than any other entire year in state records dating back to 1974.
"From our necropsies, from our monitoring program, we've seen that a lot of these calves are stillborn," Martine deWit, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission marine mammal veterinarian, told weather.com Monday.
The discovery is concentrated mostly in two counties - Volusia and Brevard. Both border the Indian River Lagoon, where a mass die-off of manatees spiked in 2021 and 2022.
"There was a series of harmful algal blooms that basically shaded out and destroyed the majority of the seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon," Beth Brady, a marine biologist with Save the Manatee Club, said. "And unfortunately, manatees forage on sea grasses and many of them starved to death."
The deaths were designated an "unusual mortality event," or UME, and are still under investigation.
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Brady and deWit said this year's rise in dead manatee calves is likely related to the UME.
“(It's) a possible indication that animals are able to get pregnant, but still aren't at the point where they've had enough nourishment to be able to maintain the pregnancy," Brady said.
It also could be related to reproduction cycles.
"Normally they have a calf, then they nourish their calf for another year or two years," deWit said. "So every female cycles through that three-year cycle."
But the UME threw that off and probably led to fewer manatee births in its peak years.
"So now that we've seen seagrass come back, manatees improving their body condition, reproduction is coming back too," deWit said. "This is just pure speculation based on the information that we have, but we probably had a high pregnancy number this year when all the females synchronized and came back into estrus at the same time."
Statistically, more births could lead to more dead calves. It's also important to note that the overall population of manatees has grown substantially since they started being tracked in the 1970s.
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"The good news is there are live calves reported in the lagoon as well," deWit said. "So we know that there are many, many calves out there that do make it."
Whether the rise in deaths becomes an issue of concern likely depends on how long it lasts.
“I think the most important thing to note is that they're able to carry fetuses again and hopefully in the next year or so, we see this number beginning to go down," Brady said.
Anyone who sees a dead or distressed manatee should call FWC's Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-3922.
Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
