Ecology and behavior of the Ecology and behavior of the Manatee (Trichechus manatus) in Florida ecologybehavioro00hart Year: 1979 102 Spec. Publ. Amer. Soc. Mamm. 5 Fig. 34. Male riding bacic of female during surfacing (photo by Russ Kinne). in an effort to escape the unrelenting pursuit of the bulls. Once, during frenetic sexual activity in shallows off a sand bar in Kings Bay, a member of an estrous herd beached momentarily on the bar with its back awash. I was unable to identify the beached ani- mal, but the following incidents lead me to think it may well have been the cow. From the air
Ecology and behavior of the Ecology and behavior of the Manatee (Trichechus manatus) in Florida ecologybehavioro00hart Year: 1979 102 Spec. Publ. Amer. Soc. Mamm. 5 Fig. 34. Male riding bacic of female during surfacing (photo by Russ Kinne). in an effort to escape the unrelenting pursuit of the bulls. Once, during frenetic sexual activity in shallows off a sand bar in Kings Bay, a member of an estrous herd beached momentarily on the bar with its back awash. I was unable to identify the beached ani- mal, but the following incidents lead me to think it may well have been the cow. From the air my pilot and assistant saw an adult manatee beached in 20 cendmeters of water on the shore of a spoil island in the Indian River (Brevard County). In the shallow water beside the stranded animal were at least five other manatees milling about. There was little question that the group was an estrous herd, and it appeared that the beached manatee was the female driven in to shore by the accompanying bulls. As the plane circled, the stranded manatee lifted itself on its flippers, floundered around, reversed direction, and headed toward the water. The New Smyr- na Beach News (13 September 1973) reported the stranding of a mantee on an outgoing tide and its rescue by local residents. The Marine Patrol Officer who supervised the rescue operation said the beached animal was an adult female and that 10 to 15 manatees had been seen beyond the surf just before the stranding. To my knowledge, copulation never took place in shoals. I have been reliably informed, however, that in Belize a pair of copuladng manatees was found awash on their sides in knee-deep water (Colin Bertram, personal communication). The one copulation I observed
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