Manatees

Coming up on the Children's Hour, we're going to learn all about manatees in a visit with Andrea Herman from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. The kids' crew and I will discuss the current ecological status of manatees and learn all about their lives in the seas around Florida and elsewhere in the world. We're going to hear a baby manatee talking to its mom. And we'll hear some great music celebrating these sea cows of the ocean. This episode

comes with a learning guide. You can find it at ChildrensHour.org. Look for manatees. The Children's Hour is an independent production of The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico-based nonprofit. We're distributed by Native Voice One, the Native American radio network. It's time for The Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio. What do get when you mix a manatee and a human? I don't know what. A humanity. It's time for The Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio.

This warm water's just right for me, for me. Beneath the mangrove tree swaying side to side for me, for me. Down here. Swimming with my friend We kinda look like cows With no legs The shallow sea The only place to be A manatee Is there still room for me to live with you? Can it be, oh can it be? Must my species

fade away so soon? Can it be, oh can it be? Down here So women with my friends, we kinda look like cows with no The shallow sea is the only place to be A manatee He he And we've adapted to fresh and salt water habitats We're just gentle mammals looking among some grass But we can't turn our heads to see above, left, right or below Or swim fast, so if your boat's in shallow water You'd better go real slow The shallow sea, the only place to be

The shallow sea, the only place to be The shallow sea, the only place to be A manatee That was the Whizpops right here on The Children's Hour singing about the topic of the day manatees. I'm Katie Stone. I'm delighted to be with everyone in listener land and all of these great kids on zoom. Hello, kids crew. Hello. And who do we have with us today? Hello, it's Amadeus. Hi, it's Beth. Hi, it's Sonya. Hi, it's Ethan. Hi, it's Lily Mae. Hi, it's Illuminata.

Hi, it's Melissa. It is Cade. Hi, it's Thaniel. I'm so glad you're all with us today. You know, today we're going to be talking about manatees. Do you know anything about manatees, really? Well, I know that they live at some places in the sea and they look kind of like cows. Sea cows have something to do with manatees. Anybody else? Have you ever heard of manatees or seen manatees? I went to visit one at an aquarium. Out in Clearwater, so that's kind

of fun. You've actually been to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium? Yeah, right when winter was around still and hope. That is so cool. In fact, that's who we're going to be talking with today. We're going to be talking with Andrea Herman. She's the senior team lead of the education wing of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where you have seen a manatee, Melissa. This is the Children's Hour and this episode comes with a learning guide. It meets national education

standards. Find it at childrenshour.org. Look for the episode called Manatees. Oh the sky is a cloudy ocean full of creatures that fly so free But a poor seahorse would be way off course and would rather be in the sea Oh the desert is a sandy ocean Full of creatures that play hide and seek But a squid in the sand can't stay in an end It would rather be in the sea Oh, the jungle is a woody ocean full of creatures that swing tree to tree. But a dolphin can't

swim in the plants and would rather be in the sea. Oh, space is a boundless ocean full of creatures that we can't see. But an octopus in weightlessness would still rather be in the sea. The night is a silent ocean full of creatures that sleep. But a great white shark prefers a watery dark and would rather be in the sea. That's Casper Baby Pants. You're listening to The Children's Hour and with us today on the show is Andrea Herman. She is the senior team lead of the education department of the

Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which is somewhere in Florida. Hello, welcome to The Children's Hour. Hi, thank you so much for having me. Where are you guys? So we are on Clearwater Beach. We're on the west coast of Florida, kind of middle of the state. So a little more west than Tampa. Well, we are so excited to have you on the show today because to be perfectly fair, I think most of us don't know anything about manatees. And I've been asking people,

what do you know about manatees? And people know like this much if they're not from Florida. And when I say this much, I mean, barely any. So we're really excited to have you. And I know the kids have tons of questions. I'm going to kick it off with, can you describe What is a manatee? So manatees are Florida's largest state mammal. They are an awesome animal. Personally, manatees are near and to my heart. They're what got me into marine science. And they are an

aquatic mammal, so they live in water and only in water. But manatees, unlike a lot of other marine mammals, they don't need to be in a marine or saltwater environment. They can live in freshwater. salt water or they can live in brackish water, which is a mix of both fresh and salt water. And they can move super easily in between each type of environment.

They are herbivorous or they eat only plants and they can eat about 10 % of their body weight every single day, which is a lot of seagrass because manatees can get really, really big. They're typically going to be about 800 to 1200 pounds. but there are some really big ones that can get to be over 3,000 pounds. And they're typically going to be about 10 to 12 feet, but we do have some that can get over 13 feet. How long do manatees live? That is a great

question. So how long can manatees live? Typically we are finding that they can easily get into their thirties, but there was a manatee that spent their entire life in human care and was born before all of these laws. His name was Snooty. And Snooty was actually 69 years old when he sadly passed away. So they can live for a pretty long time. Where do manatees live when it's not winter and the water is warmer? They're going to live all across the state.

So most waterways, especially if they have lots of seed grass or other plant matter, that's usually a chance that manatees can travel through there. But like you kind of mentioned, they're not going to be all across the state when our waters are really cold like they are right now. Interesting. So when it's winter, they're not all across the state. Where do they go? So manatees need to be in waters above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. For anybody who lives where it's

cold, that doesn't sound all that chilly, but here in Florida, that is very, very cold. And so manatees go to natural hot springs like Crystal River or Como Sasa. But along the more coastal regions, there are warm water areas and they also take advantage of humans and take advantage of our power plants. because a lot of Florida's power plants are water-cooled. So they bring that cold river water into the building and that water will cool down all of the systems

and it comes out nice and warm. So manatees will go to these water outflows by these power plants to take advantage of that warm water. What do they eat? Most commonly they're going to be eating seagrass. So this is a plant that lives in saltwater. There's freshwater seagrass plants as well. They're also going to eat whatever other plant matter they find. So they can be eating algaes, like seaweed. If the tide is really high, so there's a lot of water in the

area, they might eat the grass out of someone's backyard if they can reach it. Those are really funny pictures. They might eat leaves off of a tree if they can reach that, but they're gonna eat whatever plants they can find. You're listening to The Children's Hour. We're learning about manatees with Andrea Herman from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Don't forget, we've got a learning guide for this episode. You can find it at ChildrensHour.org. Just look for Manatees.

We have lots more coming up, but first, this is MAGPIE. I was snorkeling down in the Keys I came upon two manatees I looked at them and they looked right at me As they chewed on their dinner of hydril weeds One came over and said to me I'll tell you what life is like under the sea My name is Hugh and I'll show to you Just what manatees do You the manatee Swimming around from key to key Oh how I wish that I could be like you the manatee Like you, the manatee Swimming around the West Indies

Oh how I wish that I could be Like you, the manatee You said I like to come here and feed Among the hyacinths and the seaweed Rooting around in the seagrass beds Washing out fish so the herons get fed I like saltwater I also like fresh I don't mind it cool but warm is the best When I get tired I take a deep breath and go down on the bottom to rest Like you, the manatee Swimming around from key to key Oh how I wish that I could be Like you, the

manatee You, the manatee Swimming around the West Indies Oh how I wish that I could be Like you, the manatee Use amenity Swimming around from key to key wish that I could be like you, the manatee You, the manatee Swimming around the West Indies Oh, how I wish that I could be like you, the manatee It isn't as easy as you might think Cause me and my kind, are almost extinct A lot of the places we lived are now gone making it harder to carry on just look at these scars

on my back they were made by somebody's power boat or a peller blade with boats and pollution and trash in my way it's harder to live every day you the manatee it shouldn't be so hard to be he's part of you and he's part of me we're We're all humanity. You, the manatee. It shouldn't be so hard to be. He's part of you and he's part of me. We're all humanity.

T Manatee are large, fully aquatic marine mammals Sometimes known as sea cows They measure up to 13 feet long That's 4 meters Weigh as much as 1300 pounds Manatee have paddle-like flippers They spend half their days sleeping submerged The rest of their time is spent grazing for plants, cause manatee are mostly herbivores.

They inhabit shallow, marshy coastal areas And the rivers of the Caribbean Sea The Gulf of Mexico, the Amazon basin And West Africa is where they're most likely to be See They can die if they get too cold Their long term memory is rumored to be highly advanced And they can live to be up to sixty years old you Where are you going? You're listening to The Children’s Hour, Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back. The Children's Hour is a production of The Children's Hour Incorporated.

We're a New Mexico based nonprofit organization and we're funded by listeners just like you. Learn more at childrenshour.org. The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs supports The Children's Hour. Celebrate the diverse cultures of New Mexico at nmculture.org. face day Save the Florida Manatees giant scares the fishies away. One thousand pounds look scary

but be not afraid. Cause they eat and they eat and they eat but only the greens. And they swim in warm water and sea food Be kind We cow, save the Florida manatee It's too cold in Alaska It's too cold in DC It's too cold in New Jersey is to eat, swim, swim, eat. A C You See how safe the Florida manatee of sea See Those... That was Joanie Leeds from her What a Zoo release with her Sea Cow song before the break you heard Fire Dog from their Endangered

Species Project release. Hugh the Manatee was Magpie. This is The Children's Hour. We're learning about manatees with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's lead educator Andrea Herman. The kids have a lot of questions. Are manatees related to walruses? This is one of my favorite questions personally because looking at them, that's exactly what you'd expect. But manatees are kind of weird. They are not related to any other marine mammal except for their cousin

the dugong. The what? The dugong. That is a very funny animal name, but they are native to areas around Australia. There is a Pokemon named after them as well. But they are all considered Sirenia or sirens. And they're actually not related to any other marine mammals. So dolphins, whales, walruses, seals, otters, they're not related to any of them. The two closest cousins to manatees are hyraxes and elephants. Wow, elephants. Elephants. And

if you think about it, it does kind of make sense. They have very similar skin. They both have prehensile facial structures. So elephants have that prehensile trunk and manatee's upper lip is prehensile or it means it can move around on its own to hold on to things. So they use it to hold on mostly to food. They also have the same number of toenails and they both have munching molars or they have teeth that start in the back like our molars and they're constantly

moving forward because they're wearing down their teeth from chewing on grass. Wow. That's a lot to take in there. Now it makes me wonder. Are manatees megafauna, like from the time in Earth's history, not too long ago when we had these gigantic mammals, like huge sloths and mastodons, are they from that era? I don't believe so. I don't know exactly off the top of my head. In today's definition of like megafauna versus microfauna, they would fall into megafauna

just because they are really big. And they're something that people can tend to picture more frequently when they think about animals. And they did have a cousin who is unfortunately extinct. That was called Stellar Sea Cow. And this animal was massive. Unfortunately, it wasn't very long after they had been discovered that they did go extinct and that was due to overfishing. But these animals had a lot of blubber and fat, very similar to like cold

water whales. And so it was very helpful for like oil lamps and heating sources. And they were actually found in the Bering Strait, which is between Alaska and Russia. And remember, we're talking manatees that cousins and manatees have to have the warm water. Yup. They were really weird. They were very specialized because every other species of sirens have to be in warmer waters. Manatees are mammals, so do they lay eggs? There is only one mammal that

does lay eggs, and that is the platypus. One of the identifiers of a manatee typically is going to be that they give live birth. So just like people, these manatees are going to be born all alive and ready to go. How many babies does a mama manatee have at once? Typically it's one. In some rare cases there are twins. So you'll see two little babies following around with her. And of course they're mammals, so they nurse their babies? Yep. So they do

produce milk and the babies nurse right underneath their armpit of their flippers. So they have one on each side. So typically with twins, you'll see them kind of nursing at the same time, but with one calf, they'll switch. Do manatees have little families? Like do the, how long does the baby stay with the mom? And is there a pod like whales where there's a whole bunch of moms or is it a little manatee mom and dad? Unfortunately, once mating happens,

dad's out of the picture. And you see this a lot in nature. There is parental care though, so manatees do spend a few years with mom. Typically it's about four to five years, I think. They're typically about five feet long when they leave mom. So you can also kind of judge on size. And then they are not social, they're not in little groups? Typically, unless it is when they're all kind of piling up in those warm areas or it's a mating herd,

they are typically fatally anti-social. They're typically by themselves. Occasionally might see a couple traveling around together, but that's pretty rare. So it's usually just, if it's a mom calf, it's just the mom and calf traveling together. That's Andrea Herman from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. She's the lead educator. There's a lot more to learn about manatees, including the conservation efforts that are being done to help save them from extinction. But listen to this.

That's a mommy and baby manatee talking underwater recorded with a hydrophone. You're listening to The Children's Hour. We have so much more coming up. You can find a learning guide for this episode. Go to childrenshour.org and look for manatees. And that learning guide meets education standards nationwide. So our podcasts can be used in classrooms. In the meantime,

we've got lots more about manatees. Coming right up. Searching for a manatee Ear on manatee uh We climbed up a tree Searching for a manatee Came across a monkey And this is what he told me If you're searching for a manatee This is the only way You must think you're all big a monkey Here on FANATY FET We went to the beach Searching for a manatee Came across a turtle And this is what he told me If you're searching for a manatee This is the only way You must groove like a turtle Here on Fanaty

We jumped in the ocean. We jumped in the ocean. Searching for a manatee. Searching for a manatee. We came across a stingray. Came across the stingray. And this is what he told me. This is what he told me.

It must wobble like a stingray. Here on Manatee Bay. To the stingray. To the stingray. Do the turtle, oh yeah the turtle Do the monkey, uh huh huh We're dancing kind of silly We're dancing kind of silly We're searching for the manatee Searching for the manatee Out came the manatee Out came the manatee And started dancing with me Now I'm Dancing with the manatee on this hot sunny day I can't believe my luck Here on Manatee Bay uh wants a pickle and he wants it now

He's tired of waiting He's a hungry sea cow He wants a big pickle Delicious for the meandering He wants a big pickle Is the big call for humanity Inmanatees, is it okay if I take the next verse? Yes, I am the You should not be eating a pickle He wants a big pickle Don't give him the pickle That's Perry Gripp with his Manatee demanding a pickle song and Manatee Bay before that from Splash'N Boots. That's the title track of their Manatee Bay release. We're doing a show

about manatees today. We have a learning guide guide posted at childrenshour.org. We have a lot more questions from the kids on our crew. Let's go to Thaniel. You talked a little bit about manatee behaviors earlier. So how smart do you think manatees are? Unfortunately with animals, we don't have an exact way to test intelligence. It's kind of like comparing different people with different learning abilities. And it's not something that we are able to do with

science currently. A lot of people think that if an animal is trainable, it is intelligent and manatees are very food motivated. So they are trainable. So you can train them to do specific husbandry behaviors if they are living in human care for a long period of time. And husbandry behaviors are those that help with their care. So it helps make doing vet appointments easier and it helps them kind of take part in how they're taken care of. Do

manatees live all over the world? So with all Sirenia or kind of all of the different overall groups, they're found in North and South America. They're found in parts of Africa and they're found around Australia. the extant or the currently existing species of manatees are not going to be found anywhere where there's really cold water. So typically they're going to be nice and around the equator. When did manatees evolve and what were some of their

ancestors? I know it was a few million years ago and their shared ancestor I don't know off the top of my head unfortunately but it was the shared ancestor between sirens and

elephants. It's where they were back on land where they start to branch off into elephants being land animals and then your sirens and the sirens break down into your dugongs, which included stellar sea cow and then your manatees, which include the West Indian manatee, which is the Florida manatee, your Amazonian manatees, which are found in the Amazon river and your

West African manatees, which are found throughout Africa. Are manatees friendly? Like if I was swimming in these nice warm waters around Florida, And I just was so lucky and I swam right next to a manatee. Could I like pet it? Are they friendly? That is a great question. So are manatees friendly? Could you pet one if you found one? Manatees are very curious. So they do kind of tend towards like a friendly disposition if you were to put human terms to it. But

there's a couple of reasons why you don't want to try to touch one. The biggest reason is because they are protected by a lot of laws that say that's illegal. So there's a lot of fines, there could be jail time, it's not worth it. But they do tend to be pretty friendly. But if you do spook a manatee, because they're not expecting you or anything like that, you can get really, really hurt. These animals are massive. So it could lead to you getting

kind of rolled into, you could get hit by their tail and that's the no-no zone. That is where the most strength in a manatee comes from and that is the area when any of us are rescuing manatees that we want to avoid. Okay, so don't pet the manatees is the advice we're getting from Andrea Herman, who is the senior team leader of the education department at the Clearwater Marina Aquarium. They specialize in saving manatees. You're listening to The Children's Hour. This

episode comes with a learning guide. You can find it at childrenshour.org. Look for this episode title, Manatees. From time to time I dream that I'm a manatee, undulating underneath

the sea, unshackled by the chains of idle vanity, a modest manatee, that's me. I look just like a chubby brown bananity As I nose along the cozy ocean floor Immune from human folly and inanity That's why a manatee is such a happy herby bore I'm a manatee I'm a manatee I'm every bit as wrinkled as my granity No difference between my face and fanatee A noble manatee That's me with the dietary habits of a manatee. I never fail to lick my platter clean. I sprinkle

seaweed on my raisin brannity. The perfect manatee, cuisine With my wit, sophistication, and urbanity I dignify my watery domain No one near will ever hear me use profanity Because a manatee has his image to maintain I'm a manatee, I'm a manatee I keep my reputation, spick and spannety No difference between my face and fanatee A street humanity, that's me.

Encombered by my lumbering giganity, oh I'm thought to be an ocean going brrrroo- least appealing creature on the planet-y but to a man-ity I'm cute I prefer my world of silence and of sanity but my underwater friends don't all agree for whenever I am dreaming I'm a man-ity somewhere a man-ity is dreaming that he's me. I'm a manatee, I'm a manatee. Outside the fold of boring old humanity, no difference between my face and vanity. I'm a roly-poly,

jelly-roly, sugar-bully, heart-and-soul-emanatee. That's me! uh I'm a Manatee is John Lithgow from sunny side of the street. You're listening to The Children's Hour today. We're talking about manatees. We've made a learning guide for this episode, which you can find at children's hour.org. You can also see pictures of manatees, pictures of baby manatees and what manatees look like from above the water. You're listening to

The Children's Hour kids, public radio. We'll be right back. The Children's Hour is making weekly learning guides for every episode thanks to the support of the Albuquerque Community Foundation. You can support this effort too. Go to childrenshour.org and click donate and find our learning guides under our podcast menu. Many thanks to the Outpost Performance

Space for hosting The Children's Hour. Support for The Children's Hour provided by New Mexico Arts, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and by the National Endowment for the Arts. Support for The Children's Hour provided by the City of Albuquerque Cultural Services Department and the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund. I like all of the podcasts because they help me learn a lot. I'm Brooklyn Elder from Albuquerque. Find hundreds of educational

podcasts at childrenshour.org or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Look for The Children's

Hour. Mary Manatee is gentle and she's free She's trusting you and me to keep her safe from harm They came to be right after dinosaurs Think back, think back, think back, think back some more For years and years and years they ate their greens And did their part to keep the water clean But when a speedboat speeds It can hurt the manatees So if you're driving slow down please And watch out for manatees Mary Manatee is gentle and she's free She's

trusting you and me to keep her safe from harm Two big flippers, a white tail and back Help her to get around and get her snack She loves to bodysurf and barrel roll At a thousand pounds that's quite incredible But when a speedboat speeds It can hurt the manatees So if you're driving slow down please And watch out for manatees m She's gentle and she's free She's trusting you and me To keep her safe from harm And they grow so very large and round

That some people call them sea cows I think it's funny but they say it's true Although I never heard a manatee moo But when a speedboat speeds It can hurt the manatees So if you drive and slow down, please And watch out for manatees Mary Manatee is gentle and she's free She's trusting you and me to keep her safe from harm In nineteen hundred and seventy-five School children got them classified As endangered species they survived And now they are our

joy and pride But when a speedboat speeds It can hurt the manatees So if you're driving slow down please And watch out for manatees And watch out for manatees. Mary Manatee is Dorothy Cresswell from her Pelican Pilot Songs of Florida release. Over the break, you heard Piero Umiliani. That's the original Mah na mah na mixtape with Space Manamana. You're listening to The Children's Hour. learning about manatees today with Andrea Herman from the Clearwater

Marina Aquarium. How many manatees are there? So there are a few thousand manatees. For a very long time, starting back in the 70s or 80s, manatees were considered endangered due to their population. So they were on the brink of extinction. And through conservation, which we'll talk about more a little bit later, we were able to help bring their population in the wild back up to the point where in 2017, the federal government here in the US decided

that Florida manatees were considered threatened rather than endangered. There is talk now within the last couple of years, especially with the UME or that unusual mortality event happening that they may need to reconsider. Other organizations like the IUCN, which comes out kind of with the official global status for animals, their research is a little bit old for looking at these numbers. They're still considered endangered on their status. But like I said, that research

is over 10 years old now. So the numbers are a little out of date, but this is something that we will need to look into. Unfortunately, last year alone, we lost over 1000 manatees. So let's talk about that. I read manatees are dying at an unprecedented rate. What is happening with manatees? It's kind of a mix of man-made threats and natural threats. So as we already

talked about, manatees need to be in warm water. So water is above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. So if they get a little turned around, their timeline's a little lost, or we have a random cold snap, manatees can suffer from something called cold stress, which is kind of like hypothermia in people. So they're gonna get really slow and sleepy or lethargic. They might get some white patches on their skin, which is called skin bleaching. And it can even turn into big cuts

or lesions. And they tend to stop eating as well. So they're gonna lose a lot of weight. That's something we've seen year in, year out. And it just tends to be worse in our winter months. They're also highly likely to get hit by boats if people aren't paying attention. Manatees like to live in shallow waters. Typically when they breathe, it's only their little nose that comes up to the surface rather than their giant body. And it's very fast, little breath,

so you don't see them very often. And they're very slow. It is very common for them to get hit by boats. It's actually so common that their boat strikes are how we ID them. You mean, like scars from boats hitting them? Yep. Boat scar patterns are typically how we ID manatees. Each has their own individual scar pattern. Not all of their scars are from boats. It can be from quite literally anything in their life. But more common than not the really identifiable

ones are boat scars. They are also dealing with a natural algae called red tide. And so it's going to affect the seagrass that they eat. So they lose out on their food. It's a respiratory irritant. So it makes breathing really hard. And if they eat it, it acts as a neurotoxin. So they get a little loopy and also it can get them really, really sick. But what we're seeing the biggest increase in is starvation or there's not enough food. So the UME that I've talked

about is specifically for the East coast of Florida in the Indian River Lagoon area. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, they have lost a lot of their natural seagrass beds. But unfortunately, it's to a point now where there is not enough food in these warm water areas. So we're sending teams across the state to help out with that, help out the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. They're kind of in charge of all manatee care throughout the state. So that's where most

of those numbers are coming from. Last year alone, we lost over 600 manatees just to the UME. So you mentioned earlier that there are several species of manatees. Some are now gone. Some are still here. Does the endangerment of manatees, does that apply to all of the species or a specific few? Each species is actually threatened or endangered at this point. They all kind of suffer from the same threats throughout the world. But here at the aquarium, we specifically

work with the two subspecies of West Indian manatees. So that's the Florida manatee here around the state and even up the coast a little bit. And then there are other subspecies, the Antillean manatee. So they are all dealing with the same types of threats. It's just what are more prevalent in each country. So motorboats not being as common in some of these areas, it's a lot less common for manatees to have boat strikes, for example. What can people

do who don't live anywhere near the manatees habitats? You definitely can kind of make changes yourself at home. So no matter how far away you are from an ocean, a river doesn't matter. The way you affect your own water in your area can actually affect the oceans. So making sure you're taking care of your environment and that will help the environment around you. So making sure you're throwing out your trash properly. It's not just going to blow around.

If you're recycling, making sure you're following your local recycling rules. So some places can take only very specific. materials, others are a lot more generous in what they can take because they do have the resources to do that. So making sure you're recycling responsibly using multi-use materials instead of single use. So reusable grocery bags, reusable

water bottles, things like that. Where you're making those little switches to stop using as many single use products that will end up in a landfill, hopefully, if not, unfortunately waterways, little changes like that alone can make big changes out here in our coastal regions. What got you interested in marine science and working with manatees? So when I was a little kid, I went to Florida. originally from outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And

I saw a manatee missing most of its tail, living in human care. And from then on, they've been my favorite animal and I have wanted to work with them ever since. Wow. Thank you very much for taking the time to be with us. Andrea Herman is the senior team lead educator at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. You can learn a lot more about the aquarium at cmaquarium.org. Thank you so much for taking the time and being with us on The Children's Hour. Yeah, thank

you so much for having me. Thank you for all of your amazing questions. Vanity, manatee, living peacefully Where the river meets the ocean estuary Down in Florida by the Everglades

You can find her munching on the grassy place Go pink, green! She's team in a team living in the sea Doesn't need money or a pedigree All she really needs is a safe habitat Where the water is warm and the land is flat you Manatee, manatee, swimming in the sea Let her live her life, we can all agree Slow her boats down and try to help her out So there will always be some manatees about Swim on, manatee! Oh, there's some good-looking manatees over there! Mmm and the sky.

I you swim so beautifully same ways I've seen you jump through the sea Just a pirate like me I thought See once I thought you in the sea. That's Captain Bogg & Salty from Bedtime Stories for Pirates with Manatee. And you're listening to The Children's Hour. We learned so much today and I hope you did too. You can see pictures and so much more at childrenshour.org under this Manatee episode, including our learning

guide. Tell a teacher our podcasts are available everywhere. We're going to go out with one more. This is. Batters Be Duo from a CD called A Baker's Dozen right here on The Children's Hour. I'm singing my song I eat river grasses all day long oh I swim all day I'm a man, man, man of deep you Say I'm cute, I'm ten feet long Adorable when I'm swimming along I never tire of wild and free I'm a well-known singer down in Tennessee Giant Cindy Dump!

you The Children's Hour is produced by The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico nonprofit. You can find photos, playlists, learning guides, and activities for every episode at ChildrensHour.org. This episode of The Children's Hour was written and produced by me, Katie Stone, with production help from Christina Stella, Sarah Gabrielli, McKenzie Graunke, and Thaniel Lentz. Our learning guides are written by Amber Shiel. You can find this one at ChildrensHour.org. Look for Manatees.

Find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts or go to our patreon.com slash The Children's Hour or ask your smart speaker to play The Children's Hour podcast. Our theme music was written by C.K. Barlow. The Children's Hour is distributed by Native Voice One, the Native American radio network. Thanks for listening to The Children's Hour, Kids Public Radio. © 2026 The Children’s Hour Inc. All Rights Reserved.