As we looked out over the salt marsh creek the rounded shape of a gray mud bank glistened in the early morning light: then it moved. At this point I could see it was a huge manatee. Not often are the native animals mistaken for geographical features but because of their size; up to fifteen feet long and nearly three thousand pounds; these slow moving aquatic mammals can sometimes be confused with the landscape. More often though, they are not seen at all as they lie just below the surface of the water and only bring their heads up momentarily to get a breath of air.
At first glance the head of a manatee has a likeness to that of a walrus, but that’s where the similarities end. These warm water herbivores are a class of animal more closely related to elephants than seals.
As one might suspect, manatees have big appetites and can consume between sixty to one hundred pounds of aquatic vegetation every day. Around Cumberland they feed mostly in salt marsh creeks where they find Spartina grasses and algae. Manatees can live in both fresh and salt water as long as it is above sixty-four degrees. However sixty-eight degree water will start them moving south to warmer areas in the winter; like the spring fed rivers in Florida where seventy-two degree water comes up from underground to create these waterways.
In the salty waters around Cumberland, manatees are attracted to any areas that have fresh water draining into them. Many times they will gather around docks while people are washing their boats to drink the fresh water run off.
In recent times boats have become a major problem for these large slow moving animals. Of course, manatees evolved in an environment without boats and few if any other threats from above. After man arrived though, things started to change. The early native Americans hunted them for food: spearing them from above the surface of the water. Naturalist and explorer, William Bartram, in the late 1700’s gave a vivid account of a native American manatee hunt in Florida. As Europeans took over the region, harvesting manatees for meat continued but with more sophisticated equipment, like harpoons and fire arms. But even with this relatively new form of predation, these surface dwelling animals managed to maintain a significant population. Now modern man has outlawed manatee hunting but also has brought with him that technological wonder, the powerboat. As a result: most all wild manatees today have prop scars and many have been killed by powerboats. When boaters approach a dock on Cumberland, the first signs they see are usually the ones that warn them to slow down for manatees In other areas, mostly in Florida, speed limits and refuges excluding boats have been established. Some of these areas are controversial and much has been written and debated about them especially in heavily developed locals where of course, there are large numbers of power boaters that want quick access to fishing areas and other water related activities. Fortunately, Georgia does not yet have the Coastal human density problems that are found in Florida so boat traffic is much lighter. In the future though; if this type of development should occur; especially with large marines that attract powerboats, the natural behavior patterns and physical well being of the manatees around Cumberland Island could be in jeopardy.
