I relished paddling a canoe slowly near in manateehabitat. We saw a manatee feeding and swimming slightly below the surface. It was large, peaceful, and mysterious. Manatees graze on sea grass in the shallows in Florida. Threats to manatees:collisions with power boats;red tides caused by sewage and fertilizer runoff; and algae blooms that block the sun fromreaching the sea grass (which manatees dependon to eat).

'The Manatee is a mammal like us. It has a brain and a nervous system, much like ours, but the manatee will not fight, even to protect itself or save its young. It injures no other vertebrate creature. Surely there is some use in contemplating this uniquely blameless life.'- Faith McNulty