1 00:00:01,468 --> 00:00:17,650 Back it up. Back it up. Florida s Crystal River is a hot spot for 2 00:00:17,751 --> 00:00:24,090 manatees and for researchers trying to capture a better understanding of these massive marine 3 00:00:24,190 --> 00:00:27,761 mammals. Drop that net. Drop that net. So if you re 4 00:00:27,861 --> 00:00:35,468 on the left side of that manatee you ve gotta get on the other side of the stretcher 5 00:00:35,568 --> 00:00:39,372 here. Manatees are vulnerable to environmental changes, 6 00:00:39,472 --> 00:00:48,615 human behavior, and low reproductive rates. Since their listing as an endangered species 7 00:00:48,715 --> 00:00:56,856 in 1967, federal laws have helped the population rebound from a few hundred in the 1960s to 8 00:00:56,956 --> 00:01:03,329 an estimated 6,000 today. That comeback spawned proposals to cut the 9 00:01:03,430 --> 00:01:08,802 manatee s status from endangered species to threatened. But with this apparent 10 00:01:08,902 --> 00:01:15,442 success come questions. What biological criteria define a healthy 11 00:01:15,542 --> 00:01:23,683 manatee population today? And will Florida s habitats and food sources be enough to sustain 12 00:01:23,783 --> 00:01:31,024 the growing population in the future? In steady pursuit of the answers, researchers 13 00:01:31,124 --> 00:01:36,629 are using everything they ve learned up to today to predict what manatees will do 14 00:01:36,729 --> 00:02:04,357 tomorrow. Major funding for this program was provided 15 00:02:04,457 --> 00:02:10,463 by the Batchelor Foundation, encouraging people to preserve and protect America s underwater 16 00:02:10,563 --> 00:02:19,405 resources. And by Divers Direct/Emocean Sports inspiring the pursuit of adventure and water 17 00:02:19,506 --> 00:02:29,015 sports. And by the following In Memory of Harriet Fagan, the Do Unto Others Trust, and 18 00:02:29,115 --> 00:02:42,128 the Friends of Changing Seas. Sailors of olden days thought they were the 19 00:02:42,228 --> 00:02:49,369 mythical sirens of the sea while others dubbed them sea-cows because of their gentle, 20 00:02:49,469 --> 00:02:56,910 slow-moving nature, manatees and their cousins, the dugongs, live in shallow tropical and 21 00:02:57,010 --> 00:03:05,485 subtropical waterways from North and South America to West Africa and the Indo-Pacific 22 00:03:05,585 --> 00:03:10,890 region. Paleontologists tell us that sixty million 23 00:03:10,990 --> 00:03:18,231 years ago, the ancestors of manatees were part of a super-order of mammals called Afrotheria, 24 00:03:18,331 --> 00:03:24,671 which later became today s manatees, elephants and aardvarks. 25 00:03:24,771 --> 00:03:30,143 Manatees and their closer relatives make up the order Sirenia. Nearly fifty million 26 00:03:30,243 --> 00:03:37,350 years ago, a sirenian called Pezosiren portelli evolved, the animal scientists believe to 27 00:03:37,450 --> 00:03:45,758 be an evolutionary link between land-based creatures and ocean-going sea cows. 28 00:03:45,858 --> 00:03:51,431 Ten million years later, the family tree branched into the predecessors of today s sirenians 29 00:03:51,531 --> 00:03:59,105 the Trichechidae, the manatees, and the Dugongidae, the dugongs and the Steller s sea cow, 30 00:03:59,205 --> 00:04:07,680 a species hunted to extinction in the 1700s. 31 00:04:07,780 --> 00:04:12,318 Evidence of ancient manatees and dugongs is preserved at the Florida Museum of Natural 32 00:04:12,418 --> 00:04:22,762 History. Paleontologist Richard Hulbert catalogs the fossil record 33 00:04:22,862 --> 00:04:28,868 The skull and jaws of Metaxytherium, one of the most common dugongs found in Florida. 34 00:04:28,968 --> 00:04:35,441 It s from a skeleton that s about nine million years old found here in Gainesville. 35 00:04:35,541 --> 00:04:42,548 These bones and teeth are about a million and a half years old. They come from just 36 00:04:42,649 --> 00:04:48,488 a short distance south of Tampa on Florida s Gulf coast, some of the oldest manatee bones 37 00:04:48,588 --> 00:04:54,360 from North America. Here is a skeleton of a modern individual 38 00:04:54,460 --> 00:05:07,173 found dead in Florida about twenty years ago. Modern-day manatees are branched into three 39 00:05:07,273 --> 00:05:14,747 groups: the West African Manatee, the Amazonian Manatee, and the West Indian Manatee, a group 40 00:05:14,847 --> 00:05:20,987 that includes the Antillean Manatee, ranging from the Caribbean to Brazil, and the Florida 41 00:05:21,087 --> 00:05:30,029 Manatee. During cool winter months, a group of Florida 42 00:05:30,129 --> 00:05:36,102 manatees return to a favorite gathering place warmed by the natural springs of Crystal River 43 00:05:36,202 --> 00:05:45,645 National Wildlife Refuge on the state s west coast. Crystal River is a resting 44 00:05:45,745 --> 00:05:52,185 zone for manatees, and a place with fond memories for biologist Dr. James Buddy 45 00:05:52,285 --> 00:05:58,624 Powell. I grew up in Crystal River. And I spent as 46 00:05:58,725 --> 00:06:05,865 much time underwater as I did over the water So I ve always been intrigued by marine 47 00:06:05,965 --> 00:06:12,638 biology, and so forth. The water was gin clear through the entire bay and it was a magical 48 00:06:12,739 --> 00:06:19,812 place to grow up in as a kid. Powell was also intrigued by aviation, which 49 00:06:19,912 --> 00:06:24,751 made him a perfect fit for the early manatee aerial surveys. 50 00:06:24,851 --> 00:06:31,357 In the early 70s, when we really didn t know where manatees were or how many, we conducted 51 00:06:31,457 --> 00:06:38,398 aerial surveys in a little J3 cub airplane flying from the pan handle of Florida up every 52 00:06:38,498 --> 00:06:46,139 river, creek, bay along the entire coast, all the way around to Georgia, Savannah, Georgia. 53 00:06:46,239 --> 00:06:51,811 It was always very exciting when we had a manatee sighting because they were so few 54 00:06:51,911 --> 00:06:56,382 and far between. When we first started our work in Crystal 55 00:06:56,482 --> 00:07:02,155 River, there were only about fifty, or so manatees that would use that area. But as 56 00:07:02,255 --> 00:07:10,029 time went on, that population has slowly increased. Today, the Crystal River National Wildlife 57 00:07:10,129 --> 00:07:17,203 Refuge counts an estimated population of 750 manatees thanks to its abundant food source, 58 00:07:17,303 --> 00:07:26,813 low human habitation and long-term protection. Crystal River is almost a mecca, not only 59 00:07:26,913 --> 00:07:31,317 for manatees but manatee biologists because all of the conditions are right. You ve 60 00:07:31,417 --> 00:07:38,891 got lots of manatees that use this area, the water is very clear. It s like a giant laboratory. 61 00:07:38,991 --> 00:07:47,967 We want to welcome you to this capture. I think this is the one that s going to give 62 00:07:48,067 --> 00:07:52,238 The number of people, it s evident it s going to be the highest capture we ve ever 63 00:07:52,338 --> 00:07:56,042 had. Research biologist Dr. Bob Bonde is part of 64 00:07:56,142 --> 00:08:04,183 a group of scientists that began the Sirenia Project in the mid-1970s, a program for long-term 65 00:08:04,283 --> 00:08:11,891 study of the life history, population dynamics, and ecological requirements of the manatee, 66 00:08:11,991 --> 00:08:18,331 and for outreach to other countries with Sirenian populations. Bonde is the director and leader 67 00:08:18,431 --> 00:08:27,673 of the program s capture and assessment teams at Crystal River. 68 00:08:27,773 --> 00:08:31,544 We realized there was this opportunity to learn about what s going on with the health 69 00:08:31,644 --> 00:08:37,917 of the manatees in the population, and so the initial thrust of this was to determine 70 00:08:38,017 --> 00:08:43,155 what constituted a healthy manatee in Crystal River. 71 00:08:43,256 --> 00:09:04,577 Back it up, back it up. Researchers, like Michelle Davis, collect 72 00:09:04,677 --> 00:09:10,116 biological samples to study the health of individual manatees. 73 00:09:10,216 --> 00:09:17,957 The health assessments at Crystal River are a big event. We go out and we net the manatees 74 00:09:18,057 --> 00:09:21,060 and we bring them up on shore. 75 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,397 The most exciting part is when that first manatee comes up. 76 00:09:24,497 --> 00:09:30,436 You think about it, you re taking a 1000 to 2000 pound animal out of its environment, 77 00:09:30,536 --> 00:09:34,640 and so we have to restrain them and it gets physically difficult, and if you re in the 78 00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:37,410 wrong place at the wrong time you could be injured. 79 00:09:37,510 --> 00:09:43,316 Drop that net, drop that net. Alright come down. Reverse it. 1,2,3 up. Turn. Little steps 80 00:09:43,416 --> 00:10:07,974 guys, little steps. Keep going. Keep going. Turn the head. Stop. 81 00:10:08,074 --> 00:10:35,167 1,2,3 Spin the head. Almost there. We want to try and work quickly and not keep 82 00:10:35,267 --> 00:10:42,408 them out of the water for a long period of time. 83 00:10:45,111 --> 00:10:47,513 We do lengths and girths 84 00:10:47,613 --> 00:10:53,152 71. Can you call out breaths please? 85 00:10:53,252 --> 00:10:54,787 and weight. 86 00:10:54,887 --> 00:10:57,990 1012. Help him down. 87 00:10:58,090 --> 00:11:01,627 And we take all sorts of biological samples. 88 00:11:01,727 --> 00:11:17,743 We draw blood from the animals, we pit tag them, we take biopsies we look at the skin 89 00:11:17,843 --> 00:11:22,314 we evaluate the world and the microcosm that lives on the skin of the manatee because the 90 00:11:22,415 --> 00:11:25,985 manatee is a floating island, it s full of all kinds of interesting things You 91 00:11:26,085 --> 00:11:28,721 can see the barnacles on their bodies, which is an indicator that they ve been out in 92 00:11:28,821 --> 00:11:33,025 the marine environment, and now they come into the freshwater to take advantage of the 93 00:11:33,125 --> 00:11:37,763 warmth. Over the last decade, more than two hundred 94 00:11:37,863 --> 00:11:43,135 manatees have been captured and examined at Crystal River in a quest to evaluate the fitness 95 00:11:43,235 --> 00:11:49,475 of the population and determine normal health ranges and reproductive rates for the species. 96 00:11:49,575 --> 00:11:55,581 That s better. Much better. 97 00:11:55,681 --> 00:12:02,521 During one examination, a developing fetus is discovered. 98 00:12:02,621 --> 00:12:09,462 Manatees, as far as we ve studied, have really good immune systems. They ve been 99 00:12:09,562 --> 00:12:14,233 around for millions of years and I think that they re pretty hardy. 100 00:12:14,333 --> 00:12:19,371 The clear water and large number of manatees at Crystal River make it easy to capture and 101 00:12:19,472 --> 00:12:26,512 examine the marine mammals. But in other parts of the world, murky waters and elusive animals 102 00:12:26,612 --> 00:12:33,486 make manatee sightings a difficult task. but everything is being spun though? One 103 00:12:33,586 --> 00:12:37,523 of the greens is not being spun. 104 00:12:37,623 --> 00:12:43,429 Dr. Margaret Hunter, research geneticist with the US Geological Survey, is pioneering the 105 00:12:43,529 --> 00:12:50,069 adaptation of environmental DNA, or e-DNA, for manatee detection. 106 00:12:50,169 --> 00:12:56,942 This is really the epicenter of manatee genetics. We ve worked not only in Florida to a large 107 00:12:57,042 --> 00:13:03,449 degree but also looking at genetic samples from Puerto Rico, Belize, Brazil, all across 108 00:13:03,549 --> 00:13:10,623 the range in Africa, the Amazon manatee. We work with the cousin of the manatee, the dugong, 109 00:13:10,723 --> 00:13:18,230 looking at population structure and helping with the conservation of these species. 110 00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:25,437 Environmental DNA is a method that we use to detect wild animals without having to visually 111 00:13:25,538 --> 00:13:30,643 identify them in nature. It s a unique tool, it s evolved, that s 112 00:13:30,743 --> 00:13:36,682 allowed us to, in a forensic way, look into their biology with even more intensity then 113 00:13:36,782 --> 00:13:43,856 we can do with our eyes. Environmental DNA is found in water, soil 114 00:13:43,956 --> 00:13:52,131 and air. Manatees shed DNA into the environment through excrement, saliva and loss of skin 115 00:13:52,231 --> 00:13:58,237 cells. Small fragments of manatee DNA can be found in water samples collected from the 116 00:13:58,337 --> 00:14:04,944 animal s habitat. It s a tool that can identify specific waterways for more intensive 117 00:14:05,044 --> 00:14:08,247 monitoring. We did this in Cuba, they actually went to 118 00:14:08,347 --> 00:14:13,886 the Guantanamo Bay and there s the Guantanamo River and the first detection of DNA that 119 00:14:13,986 --> 00:14:19,625 we had for manatees in the Guantanamo River were fragments of the DNA that came up positive. 120 00:14:19,725 --> 00:14:26,232 A large part of it is a great challenge. We have to collect a lot of samples, and a large 121 00:14:26,332 --> 00:14:33,072 enough volume of water to be able to detect the DNA within the water. Our current protocol 122 00:14:33,172 --> 00:14:40,212 is to collect 1 liter of water, and we collect replicates so that we can increase our confidence 123 00:14:40,312 --> 00:14:46,485 and our statistical information. We ll take a water sample and add preservative 124 00:14:46,585 --> 00:14:51,624 to be able to preserve the DNA that s within this water sample. Then we will chill these 125 00:14:51,724 --> 00:15:01,767 bottles down on ice and take them back to the lab for processing. 126 00:15:01,867 --> 00:15:07,239 The US Geological Survey Wetlands and Aquatic Research Center in Gainesville, Florida is 127 00:15:07,339 --> 00:15:15,915 leading the study of manatee habitats by analyzing water samples for manatee DNA. 128 00:15:16,015 --> 00:15:22,688 The water is poured through a filter to collect the DNA, then chemically treated to purify 129 00:15:22,788 --> 00:15:30,696 the DNA from proteins and other substances. The DNA is concentrated in a centrifuge, then 130 00:15:30,796 --> 00:15:38,037 washed multiple times to ensure the removal of other environmental substances 131 00:15:38,137 --> 00:15:44,843 Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction, or digital PCR, is a process that amplifies environmental 132 00:15:44,944 --> 00:15:49,615 DNA to visualize or quantify it within the sample. 133 00:15:49,715 --> 00:15:56,622 DNA is very small, it s molecularly tiny and so we have to replicate it or copy it 134 00:15:56,722 --> 00:16:02,461 many times to be able to see it. This is similar to a photocopier. It s an 135 00:16:02,561 --> 00:16:07,666 exponential amplification. So if you have a single copy and you put it into a photocopier, 136 00:16:07,766 --> 00:16:11,670 you ll have two. And then you can put that back in and you ll have four. And so this 137 00:16:11,770 --> 00:16:17,876 continues over and over and gives us a large enough amount of DNA to be able to visualize 138 00:16:17,977 --> 00:16:23,282 it on our equipment. DNA analysis has revealed troubling issues 139 00:16:23,382 --> 00:16:29,488 about the genetic diversity of the species. Manatees have been shown to have extremely 140 00:16:29,588 --> 00:16:37,262 low diversity on par with critically endangered species. You don t have the genes and the 141 00:16:37,363 --> 00:16:43,535 diversity needed to battle diseases. It can possibly lead to an extinction vortex, which 142 00:16:43,635 --> 00:16:49,942 is continuation of a loss of individuals which leads to smaller population sizes and that 143 00:16:50,042 --> 00:16:58,117 leads to more inbreeding which then repeats itself and can potentially severely harm a 144 00:16:58,217 --> 00:17:02,388 population. Researcher Michelle Davis focuses on genetic 145 00:17:02,488 --> 00:17:07,359 projects that analyze manatee relatedness, inbreeding and parentage. 146 00:17:07,459 --> 00:17:13,866 There was a founder effect in Florida, where a few manatees came and founded all of Florida. 147 00:17:13,966 --> 00:17:18,871 It created this large population and then there was a population bottleneck where the 148 00:17:18,971 --> 00:17:24,243 population was really big, it came down to a smaller population and then it expanded 149 00:17:24,343 --> 00:17:29,181 from there. And so there is low genetic diversity. So everybody looks like they re related 150 00:17:29,281 --> 00:17:34,219 based on the diversity, but they re not actually like brothers and sisters. They re 151 00:17:34,319 --> 00:17:39,391 averagely related at the level of first cousins. If you go out and sample, usually about one 152 00:17:39,491 --> 00:17:43,529 in five would be related at the level of half siblings. 153 00:17:43,629 --> 00:17:49,835 While running one genetic analysis, researchers made a discovery. The first documented case 154 00:17:49,935 --> 00:17:56,075 of what appear to be identical twins found in the wild. 155 00:17:56,175 --> 00:18:00,245 And so we reran them to make sure that we analyzed it properly and hadn t made any 156 00:18:00,345 --> 00:18:04,883 mistakes in the laboratory, and found that they came back as being identical again. And 157 00:18:04,983 --> 00:18:09,121 so we went and looked at their sample names and matched it to our photo identification 158 00:18:09,221 --> 00:18:13,559 information and found that they were two different animals with different scar patterns, but 159 00:18:13,659 --> 00:18:23,202 they had the same exact genotype and the same genes. 160 00:18:23,302 --> 00:18:28,607 Scar patterns are the physical evidence that help wildlife biologist Cathy Beck track the 161 00:18:28,707 --> 00:18:33,912 life story of individual manatees. Some of the manatees that we were seeing at 162 00:18:34,012 --> 00:18:40,953 Crystal River had marks on them that were distinguishing, unique features that we could 163 00:18:41,053 --> 00:18:46,825 use for identification. So initially, we were just going out and taking photographs and 164 00:18:46,925 --> 00:18:51,830 we had a shoebox. Literally, a shoebox of photographs on a bulletin board. 165 00:18:51,930 --> 00:18:56,268 We outgrew our shoebox real fast and our bulletin board and had to come up with some sort of 166 00:18:56,368 --> 00:19:01,507 computerized database and it has evolved to what is now a Manatee Photo Identification 167 00:19:01,607 --> 00:19:07,779 System, MIPS for short. Half a million images are cataloged in the 168 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:13,385 database. Each photo documents the history of an individual, gives information on the 169 00:19:13,485 --> 00:19:20,559 status of the species and helps estimate adult manatee survival over time. Although they 170 00:19:20,659 --> 00:19:26,665 are a protected species, the majority of Florida manatees suffer from trauma caused by boat 171 00:19:26,765 --> 00:19:33,438 propellers, rope or fishing line entanglement, and cold-water exposure. 172 00:19:33,539 --> 00:19:40,245 Usually, by the time a manatee is an adult, we find some kind of mark on it. I m hard 173 00:19:40,345 --> 00:19:46,585 pressed to find an animal that doesn t have some kind of feature that we can use for identification. 174 00:19:46,685 --> 00:19:52,558 Most of the features are a result of an encounter with a boat, but not all. 175 00:19:52,658 --> 00:19:59,965 This animal in particular had a pretty severe boat wound and you can see an actual deformity 176 00:20:00,065 --> 00:20:06,572 here where the bone underneath is trying to heal and it s cauliflowering out. This wound 177 00:20:06,672 --> 00:20:13,579 healed to have a feature that is now still identifiable. It s survived and it s still 178 00:20:13,679 --> 00:20:19,785 out there. This is our catalog of survivors. Looking at pictures of scarred animals day 179 00:20:19,885 --> 00:20:26,692 after day after day and especially calves with fresh hits is hard. You have to remove 180 00:20:26,792 --> 00:20:32,164 yourself from what you re actually seeing and what the animal is no doubt suffering 181 00:20:32,264 --> 00:20:37,069 Is that affecting their long-term survival? Does that shorten their life span? Does it 182 00:20:37,169 --> 00:20:44,042 affect their reproduction? Right now manatees in Florida seem to be doing well and it doesn t 183 00:20:44,142 --> 00:20:51,250 seem like that s the case but long-term trends, we are still gathering that data. 184 00:20:51,350 --> 00:20:56,855 The Manatee Photo ID System can help identify manatees that venture far from Florida s 185 00:20:56,955 --> 00:21:04,630 waters like one from Miami that showed up in Cape Cod, and a female from Crystal River 186 00:21:04,730 --> 00:21:11,536 that ended up on the north shore of Cuba. Recent studies have documented an expansion 187 00:21:11,637 --> 00:21:17,876 of the population into north Florida and along the Gulf coast to Alabama and Louisiana. 188 00:21:17,976 --> 00:21:26,218 eDNA is really important in this study to potentially identify where manatees are in 189 00:21:26,318 --> 00:21:31,790 this migration and where we can find them. We believe that it s based on the population 190 00:21:31,890 --> 00:21:37,896 expansion and now there are enough manatees, that they are seeking additional food resources 191 00:21:37,996 --> 00:21:43,235 in the summer. And then as it gets cooler, in the winter, they return to Florida, to 192 00:21:43,335 --> 00:21:47,773 overwinter in our natural springs, which hold a constant temperature, and allow them to 193 00:21:47,873 --> 00:21:53,612 survive the colder temperatures. Sustained water temperatures below sixty-eight 194 00:21:53,712 --> 00:22:01,153 degrees can cause life-threatening hypothermia in manatees. And as creatures of habit, they 195 00:22:01,253 --> 00:22:07,693 return to the same warm water sources year after year. 196 00:22:07,793 --> 00:22:13,098 But scientists believe as many as seventy per cent of Florida s manatee population 197 00:22:13,198 --> 00:22:19,471 is dependent on artificial sources of warm water produced by coastal power plants. It 198 00:22:19,571 --> 00:22:25,811 is thought that these warm water stepping-stones around the state have helped the manatee population 199 00:22:25,911 --> 00:22:33,218 expand its numbers and range. But now, power companies are gradually converting their plants 200 00:22:33,318 --> 00:22:40,625 from oil to natural gas, a cleaner fuel, but a process that cuts the warm water flow. 201 00:22:40,726 --> 00:22:47,532 They ve got to tear down the plant for about three years as they shift to natural gas. 202 00:22:47,632 --> 00:22:53,372 Well during that time, the warm water disappears. And so one of our projects has been to tag 203 00:22:53,472 --> 00:23:00,445 manatees that come into these plants to find out what they do when there s no warm water. 204 00:23:00,545 --> 00:23:05,617 What Florida Power and Light has done is actually installed giant heaters that if temperatures 205 00:23:05,717 --> 00:23:09,988 really drop, they ll turn these heaters on just for manatees, to keep them warm 206 00:23:10,088 --> 00:23:14,960 to ensure that this species that has largely become dependent on the warm water from the 207 00:23:15,060 --> 00:23:21,500 power plants has sanctuary even as they re making this change and this transition. 208 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:26,738 If you flip a switch off at a power plant and it s not strategically done, you re 209 00:23:26,838 --> 00:23:33,311 going to have a lot of dead manatees if they don t have any other options. 210 00:23:33,412 --> 00:23:38,483 With the potential reduction of artificial warm water sites in the future, spring-fed 211 00:23:38,583 --> 00:23:45,023 habitats like Crystal River could become even more important for long-term manatee survival. 212 00:23:45,123 --> 00:23:52,264 If you have a thousand manatees now and in ten or twenty years you have two thousand 213 00:23:52,364 --> 00:23:57,035 or four thousand, is there enough vegetation out there? Is there enough carrying capacity 214 00:23:57,135 --> 00:24:02,307 and habitat for those manatees to live comfortably? Those are the kinds of fundamental questions 215 00:24:02,407 --> 00:24:16,521 that we re anticipating that we re going to be able to answer in the future. 216 00:24:16,621 --> 00:24:23,628 As researchers continue to document the biological data that characterize a healthy manatee today, 217 00:24:23,728 --> 00:24:28,800 scientists from around the world are adopting the techniques developed at Crystal River 218 00:24:28,900 --> 00:24:35,640 to evaluate and conserve their own manatee populations. 219 00:24:35,740 --> 00:24:40,912 Wherever we work we try to work with the agencies that have responsibility for this species, 220 00:24:41,012 --> 00:24:47,452 as well as trying to recruit students and biologists that we can help train and mentor 221 00:24:47,552 --> 00:24:50,722 because they re the ones who are going to leave a legacy behind when we re no longer 222 00:24:50,822 --> 00:24:55,794 working there. The common denominator is right behind me, 223 00:24:55,894 --> 00:24:58,864 and that s the animal that brings us all here, and we re all trying to do something 224 00:24:58,964 --> 00:25:04,970 for that animal. The more that can be done for the manatee 225 00:25:05,070 --> 00:25:11,610 today, in understanding its health and habitat needs, the more realistic are the possibilities 226 00:25:11,710 --> 00:25:40,272 for the future success of the entire species. 1,2,3 slide. Hand it off. 1,2,3 slide. 1,2,3 227 00:25:40,372 --> 00:26:03,228 slide. Okay, hold the stretcher, and we re good. 228 00:26:03,328 --> 00:26:08,767 Major funding for this program was provided by the Batchelor Foundation, encouraging people 229 00:26:08,867 --> 00:26:17,676 to preserve and protect America s underwater resources. And by Divers Direct/Emocean Sports 230 00:26:17,776 --> 00:26:25,150 inspiring the pursuit of adventure and water sports. And by the following In Memory of 231 00:26:25,250 --> 00:26:29,250 Harriet Fagan, the Do Unto Others Trust, and the Friends of Changing Seas.