Are Affectionate Tourists Harming Florida Manatees? Cole.D
By Kim Bussing
January 5, 2016
Manatees are large round marine animals sometimes weigh as much as 1,000 pounds. But they do not have body fat to stay warm. So they must find a warm water habitat to survive. They move from the Gulf of Mexico to Three Sisters Spring in Crystal River, Florida. This is only a one acre space and there are many manatees. It is very dangerous for the manatees to move as many are killed by boat props. Nearly 400 per year have been killed. Once they get there, humans surround them in boats, canoes and by swimming up too close. This scares the manatees. Protective lines and buoys have been set up but the manatees have to swim through the humans to get to safety.
In Aug. 2015, the Florida Fish and Wildlife officials limited the number of human swimmers to 29. They also hired more staff to monitor the area.
In science we studied the bad effects that invasive species can have. Like when the pike were added to the trout pond. Here the humans have been added to the manatee pond. It is stressing out the manatees. I like manatees. What is happening to them, I don’t want to happen.
I like your choice of topic, but I think that maybe it could have an introductory to hook the reader.
ReplyDeleteI like your choice of topic, but I think that maybe it could have an introductory to hook the reader.
ReplyDeleteamazing work! I agree with Erik, but other than that it looks really good.
ReplyDelete