Birthdays are always special, but in Bradenton, there's one that draws hundreds of people to the South Florida Museum.
That's every July 21, Snooty the manatee's special day. This year, the birthday party was held in advance, scheduled last Saturday and, as always, for free. Fans and friends from all over the state and beyond came in droves to send the famous manatee their well wishes.
This year, Snooty turned 66 and, thankfully, he is in good health. He weighs about 1,000 pounds and eats around 80 pounds of vegetables like lettuce every day. He also has no trouble swimming around in his tank which he sometimes shares with smaller manatees being treated for cold stress. He's also taken a liking to the cameras, a good thing given he's quite the celebrity.
Snooty was born on 1948 in captivity after fishermen in Miami captured his mother, who was pregnant with him at the time. He's never spent a day in the wild, but he plays a very important role in raising awareness for manatees and other wildlife in Florida.
Manatees are expected to live up to 20 or 30 years on their own but many of them don't go beyond 10 years old in the wild. After all, there are many dangers in the wild that a manatee must face, but none greater than the threat that humans bring. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, manatees get killed when they are hit by watercraft, trapped in pipes, crushed in floodgates, or poached. Snooty doesn't have to worry about any of these and that's why he's survived up to now.
"If you lived in a pool where people gave you a bath and fed you lettuce by hand and you had no other predators and the water was always a nice warm temperature, you'd be living long too. He's protected, he's safe, he has a great diet, he has regular medical care, and so he's got all the odds for him in terms of living long," assures South Florida Museum executive director Brynne Anne Besio.
The manatee is the state marine mammal of Florida. To give you an idea of its size, think an elephant in the water. It is a herbivore and likes warm waters, resting and eating. A manatee may also be commonly referred to as a sea cow.
