Manatees pronounced “MAN uh TEE”, have been called many names, including sirenians/sirenas, sea cows and even mermaids. The first Europeans to encounter manatees thought that they were seeing the mythically beautiful mermaids, which were believed to be half woman, half fish creatures. On closer inspection however, they were disappointed to see that these animals were not quite as beautiful as they thought.

The Florida and Belize manatee are considered two separate subspecies of the West Indian manatee. The Florida manatee is part of the Florida subspecies found throughout the southeastern United States, while the Belize manatee is part of the Antillean subspecies found in river and coastal habitats in Central and South America and the Caribbean. These two West Indian subspecies have been designated by differences in skull measurements and genetic changes. Recent genetic studies, using highly informative microsatellite DNA, have shown that the Florida and Belize manatee populations are very different from one another and in fact do not travel or mix together…MORE