Pregnant Manatee Rescued Off Cape Cod Tracked to Bahamas: ICYMI

FALMOUTH, MA — A pregnant and exhausted manatee rescued off Cape Cod in September is spending the holidays in the Bahamas. "Washburn" is still pregnant — she's expected to give birth in about three months. Manatees have a 12-month gestation period.

Washburn was saved in the nick of time Sept. 22 near Falmouth's Washburn Island — hence her nickname. Manatees cannot survive when water temperatures dip below 68 degrees. On the day of her rescue, the water temperature in Falmouth was exactly 68 degrees.

Manatees' main habitat is Florida — nearly 1,400 miles south of Cape Cod — and they rarely travel so far north. Wildlife officials said Washburn decided to stay in Cape Cod waters to deliver her baby, but she would not have survived the frigid waters. Washburn was spotted several times before rescuers finally tracked her down. She was loaded on a specially equipped Coast Guard plane and flown down to SeaWorld in Florida for rehabilitation before she was released back into the wild.

"Washburn is proving to be a particularly interesting manatee for this study; she definitely has us on our toes wondering where she’ll go next,” said Monica Ross, a research scientist for Sea to Shore Alliance, in a statement.

Top photo: The manatee Washburn photographed in the Bahamas the week of December 5, 2016. (Credit: Mystic Aquarium)

This story was first published December 9, 2016