300 Manatees Congregate to Escape the Cold

Visitors to the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus County have gotten quite an eyeful over the past few days as hundreds of manatees have converged in warmer waters to escape the cold.

So many manatees have made their way to the park’s Three Sisters Springs, in fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been forced on several occasions to shut down a portion of the waterway to human traffic, the Southwest Florida Water Management District reported on its Facebook page. An estimated 300 manatees converged on the springs Monday, the agency reported.

The wildlife service made the springs a manatee-only zone Monday, but was able to reopen the area at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

With temperatures expected to dip once more with a cold front moving into the area, the wildlife service was banking on the need for another closing Tuesday afternoon.

See Also:

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“Based on observations of manatees as part of our ongoing monitoring, higher manatee use of the springs is expected during the higher tides this afternoon and colder weather tonight, therefore the springs will be closed again this afternoon at 2 p.m.,” the complex reported on its Facebook page.

While manatees are known to gather in the springs in numbers when waters elsewhere get too chilly for their sensibilities, the numbers seen this year are record-breaking, officials say.

“We have a record number this year,” Laura Ruettiman, an education guide at the springs, was quoted by USA Today as saying. “We have 150 more manatees here than have ever been recorded in the past.”

For more information on Three Sisters Springs, visit the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge’s website.

Photo from the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Facebook page

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