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Manatee Updates |
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Biography: Baby Coral and her mother were brought together to Lowry Park Zoo upon rescue, but her mother died in captivity. Baby Coral was released on Friday, 2/27/09, at Three Sisters in Crystal River, along with Baby Sister, another rehabilitated animal from Lowry Park Zoo. When she was rescued she weighed 185 lbs and was 168 cm. |
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Field Notes: 2/28/09: After her release on Friday, 2/27/09, at Three Sisters, Baby Coral spent most of her first few hours in the wild socializing with other animals there. Today she was observed milling and bottom resting at Magnolia Spring. 3/10/09-3/16/09: Baby Coral was observed early last week alone in the manatee sanctuary behind the main spring in Kings Bay, Crystal River, resting and moving slowly around the sanctuary. This is an area where manatees frequently feed. She joined Muddy Barron, a manatee released last year, who had been feeding along the shore line. During the latter part of the week Baby Coral moved down Crystal River and then out Salt River to the south. This is a large estuarine habitat that manatees frequent during warmer weather and contains plentiful food. 3/17/09 – 3/24/09: Baby Coral was observed this week with one other animal traveling west in Crystal River near marker 24. By 3/24/09 she was back in Kings Bay. She seems to be moving up and down Crystal River. 3/23/09-3/30/09: Baby Coral was observed Wednesday, 3/25/09, in a cove outside Three Sisters Springs. She was with several other animals and was feeding during the observation. She continues to move up and down Crystal River. 3/30/09-4/6/09: Baby Coral continues to move back and forth along Crystal River. Sunday, 4/5/09, she stayed around western and central Kings Bay, and moved west to the bend in the river by Monday, 4/6/09. 4/7/09-4/13/09: On Saturday, 4/4/09, Baby Coral was observed in Kings Bay, Crystal River, as the focus of a cavorting group with about 6-7 individuals. On 4/9/09, Baby Coral was observed feeding with an unknown number of other animals just north of Pete’s Pier. She was observed again on 4/10/09, alone, about 1 mile west of the entrance to Kings Bay feeding along the shoreline at high tide. 4/15/09-4/29/09:
Baby Coral has been moving up
and down Crystal River. On Tuesday, 4/21/09, she was at the bend in the
river. On Thursday, 4/23/09, Baby Coral was traveling outside the channel
in Crystal River at the same area by the bend in the river with 2 other
animals. She went into a canal to bottom-rest briefly before 4/27/09-5/14/09: After moving up and down Crystal River, Baby Coral has come to the mouth of the river at the gulf as of 5/9/09. This area has plenty of food. 5/12/09-5/18/09: Baby Coral was observed on Sunday morning, 5/17/09, near the mouth of Crystal River moving along the northern shoreline away from boat traffic. She moved into a small tidal creek where she rested. Buddy made an in-water evaluation and found no folds in her belly; she appeared healthy. 5/23/09-6/4/09: Baby Coral began traveling up and down the river again on Monday, 5/25/09, stopping at the bend in the river. On Thursday, 5/28/09, she is back at the mouth of the river again. She remained at the mouth of Crystal River and was seen feeding on Wednesday, 6/3/09. She was with 2 other animals. 6/3/09-6/9/09: Baby Coral is still at the mouth of Crystal River slightly north of the opening and has traveled a little ways north along the coast on Sunday, 6/7/09, and then back down toward the opening on Tuesday, 6/9/09. 6/10/09-6/15/09:
Baby Coral was observed alone on Saturday,
6/13/09, downriver from
6/16/09-6/25/09: Baby Coral was seen milling and bottom-resting in Kings Bay on Wednesday, 6/24/09. 6/26/09-7/01/09: Baby Coral has been
moving up and down
7/2/09-7/9/09: As of Thursday, 7/9/09, Baby Coral is at the mouth of Crystal River on the north edge of the gulf. She has entered the seagrass-lined canals along the mouth. 7/9/09-7/14/09: Baby Coral moved from the north side of the mouth of Crystal River to the south side of the channel slightly into the river on Tuesday, 7/14/09. 7/15/09-7/21/09: Baby Coral was seen feeding on seagrass in a tidal creek along the north shore of Crystal River. She was alone at the time of the observation. The time was approaching when tag batteries will start to wear out, so Buddy was able to re-tag her and give her an in-water body condition assessment. Her overall health condition appeared good: she was alert and initially elusive, he could not feel any ventral folds, and there were no scars or abrasions. 7/22/09 – 7/28/09: At the beginning of the week Baby Coral was observed in Kings Bay interacting with a group of divers. On Tuesday, 7/28/09, she moved from the mouth of the river inward near the point where Salt River enters Crystal River. 7/29/09 – 8/03/09: After milling up and down Salt River, Baby Coral moved west out into the gulf by Monday, 8/03/09, just south of the entrance to Crystal River. 8/04/09-8/10/09: Baby Coral was observed by herself on Thursday, 8/06/09, near the mouth of Crystal River outside the channel. She traveled eastward further into the river and then into a creek where she chose a spot and bottom-rested for an hour and a half. 8/11/09-8/17/09: It was reported on Sunday, 8/9/09, that Baby Coral lost her tag. It was recovered by a dive shop and was being held at the Crystal River Wildlife Refuge. We are attempting to re-tag Baby Coral immediately. 8/18/09-8/23/09: An attempt to locate and re-tag Baby Coral on Sunday, 8/23/09, was unsuccessful. Sea To Shore continues to try to re-tag her as soon as possible. 8/26/09-9/8/09: Sea To Shore has responded to two sightings of Baby Coral this week, on Friday, 9/4/09, leaving Three Sisters Spring, and on Tuesday, 9/8/09, at Hunters Spring. Neither attempt was successful, but Sea To Shore continues to try to re-tag her as soon as possible. 9/09/09-9/21/09: On Thursday, 9/17/09, Buddy re-tagged Baby Coral in Kings Bay. Ivan Vicente had tagged her on Tuesday, 9/15/09, with a temporary tag from USGS, which greatly helped the process. Her movements during the past week have been from Three Sisters Spring to Hunters Spring to Warden Key. Monica and Melody observed her on Saturday, 9/19/09, and performed an in-water body condition assessment. Baby Coral rested on bottom near Magnolia Spring, avoided snorkelers pursuing her, traveled and milled westward toward Kings Bay, and socialized with another animal near a marina. While socializing she may have been feeding but we could not confirm this. 9/22/09-9/28/09: On Thursday, 9/24/09, Baby Coral had returned back to the mouth of Crystal River. 9/29/09-10/05/09:
On Friday, 10/02/09, Baby Coral was found by herself at the
mouth of Crystal River on the south side of the channel and then
alternately milled and traveled into a small canal in the seagrasses.
She fed briefly and then milled slowly very close to the vegetation
line. 10/13/09-10/20/09: Baby Coral was seen on Monday, 10/19/09, about two and a half miles from the end of the Chassahowitzka River. She was bottom-resting and socializing with two other animals. 10/21/09-10/26/09: This week Baby Coral moved from the Chassahowitzka River south on Saturday, 10/24/09, along the coast, and continuing south just north of Weeki Wachee and Bayport on Monday, 10/26/09. 10/27/09-11/01/09: Baby Coral was observed on Wednesday, 10/28/09, off the coast near Spring Hill, having traveled south from Weeki Wachee that morning. She was milling, then started to move out of the canal system. An above-water visual was obtained by Monica, who confirmed that she is lean but not emaciated. No new scars were seen, but both freeze brands were visible. She is also very responsive of any noise and avoids people. 11/02/09-11/10/09: Baby Coral has continued to travel south this week along the west coast, going from Tampa down to the Bradenton area. 11/11/09-11/14/09: Baby Coral continued her travels southward. On Thursday, 11/12/09, she was observed at about 2:30 p.m. moving out of a boat basin across from Anna Maria Island where she spent most of the day. After moving out into open water, she steadily moved south along the eastern side of the Intracoastal Waterway. One boat passed over her and she avoided the boat by diving. She was traveling alone the entire time. As she passed close to the boat, no scars were seen and her freezebrand was visible. By Thursday night, 11/12/09, she had reached Longboat Key on Sarasota Bay, and by Friday, 11/13/09, she was in Pansey Bayou, a manatee sanctuary near Mote Marine Laboratory on Lido Key. We are grateful to Cannon’s Marina for providing us, without charge, a (very nice Grady-White) boat while ours is having the bottom scraped and painted. 11/15/09-11/24/09: On Sunday, 11/22/09, Baby Coral continued south from Sarasota Bay down the coast, and on Tuesday, 11/24/09, she is across from Port Charlotte and just north of Englewood. 12/01/09-12/09/09: Baby Coral has remained in relatively the same area on the west coast across from Port Charlotte this week, leaving the warm water source to feed and then returning. Baby Coral has continued to make her way south through Sarasota Bay to Venice and northern Lemon Bay. On Saturday, I spent about 3 hours with her, she was resting in the upper reaches of Forked Creek where there are two boat basins. Manatees frequently use these two areas as passive warm water sanctuaries and are often seen in the area. The water temperature in the basin was 22 degrees C and salinity 26 ppt. There were probably 30 manatees in the immediate area, milling and resting. The water was very turbid, churned up and manatees were moving throughout the canal system. She interacted with several individuals but appeared to be milling or resting alone. Based on her satellite track, she seems to be feeding in Lemon Bay and then returning to Forked River. I’m trying to catch Baby Coral outside the Creek where the water is more clear to get an UW assessment. Her behavior was normal and encouraging that she’s staying in areas where there are other manatees and sources of warmer water. I will try again this week. 12/10/09-12/14/09: On Sunday, 12/13/09, Baby Coral was observed feeding on the western side of northern Lemon Bay with one other animal. She seems to have a regular routine of spending the afternoons and nights in Forked Creek, a passive warm water sanctuary. She then moves out to Lemon Bay to the same general area about a km south of the mouth of Forked Creek, presumably to feed. Buddy was able to do an in-water evaluation and noted that she appeared healthy and a little thin, but not emaciated. There were no signs of cold stress on her dorsum or tail.
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