Comments on: Memphis Manatee Found Dead

By: busterggi

busterggi — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:58:21 +0000

“Oh, the humanatee!”
Herbert Morrison, May 6, 1937

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:54:44 +0000

Unfortunately this happens a lot to animals that wander too far outside of their own habitat. Some animals can handle it batter than others, but from what I understand, manatees are not one of them. Shame what happened to the poor thing.

By: joppa

joppa — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 01:03:27 +0000

Bummer. I liked the name of the “Memphis Manatee”.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:42 +0000

How sad he never found his way back to wherever he belonged — and didn’t understand that the folks trying to capture him really did have his best interests at heart. I’m sure it was fun to see, but manatees simply don’t belong where it gets cold in the winter.

Manatees are warm-blooded, and seek out power plants and other sources of warm water when the weather turns cool here in Florida. As cold as the weather in Memphis has been, I’m amazed this one lasted this long with no shelter.

By: greywolf

greywolf — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:53:10 +0000

Nature has its way of doing things and when they are out of order it can be fatal.

By: flame821

flame821 — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:16:47 +0000

following food and warm currents up the Gulf Stream, more than likely. I’m waiting to see what happens to the OOP Manetee in the Hudson, I’m not sure where it was last spotted.

By: twocentsworth

twocentsworth — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:11:51 +0000

A number or years ago my dad, who lived in the Greater New Orleans area, told me that the EPA and LA Dept. of Ecology put a stop to dredging for clam shells in Lake Pontchartrain due to the dredging causing toxins in the sediments of the lake bed being released into the lake water resulting in very detrimental impacts to the aquatic life in the lake. Dad mentioned that as soon as the dredging ceased, life in the lake began to rebound faster than anyone had predicted and different aquatic life not seen in the lake system in many years began to return an flourish. Chalk one up for the environmentalists! Shortly before passing away in the summer of 2005, dad told me of a number of credible reports of manatees being spotted in Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas over the preceding few years. The general thinking was that these manatees had migrated up the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and into the lake system comprised of Lake Borgne to the east, Lake Pontchartrain in the center, and Lake Maurepas to the west. These lakes are connected to each other by the Rigolets and Manchac passes. The whole system connects with the Gulf of Mexico near the Louisiana – Mississippi border (Lake Borgne area). There is quite a bit of prime habitat to support populations of manatees in the surrounding marshes and swamps.

It would make sense if the manatees could find their way to this lake system from Florida, the manatees could also find their way into the Mississippi River Delta wetlands and thus move up river to the Memphis area.

I would suspect that the demise of the Memphis manatee was brought about by a combination of colder water temperatures and the subsequent seasonal decrease in aquatic vegetation necessary for their sustenance.

By: catvmex

catvmex — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 15:46:13 +0000

If the manatee came from the FL area, does anyone have an idea of how it got to Memphis?

Sad times.