Manatees on the Move!

Meet the Manatees at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

The massive aquarium within Manatee Coast, built  to house up to five full-grown manatees, offers visitors a view  of live mangroves growing along the shore.

As visitors descend  the gentle slope along this 190,000 gallon indoor habitat, they  come face to face with the manatees' underwater living space.

On October 9th, the Columbus  Zoo & Aquarium welcomed three new manatees to Manatee  Coast. The three female manatees (Holly,  Stubby, and Willoughby)  will call Columbus home as we say goodbye to our three males (Gene, Dundee,  and Turtle).

The three females arrived from the  Homosassa State Park in  Florida which is a fellow partner institution under the U.S.  Fish & Wildlife Service’s  Rehabilitation and Recovery Program. The females have been  sent to Columbus as part of a research project examining  the significance of a non-lethal papillomavirus that is  specific to manatees.

Our facility was selected for the study  as a result of our ability to closely manipulate environmental  parameters which provides an ideal setting for this research.  Our current males returned to Florida as part of our continuing  role in the rehabilitation program.

Dundee and Turtle were moved to the  Lowry Park Zoo (Tampa)  and Sea World Orlando, respectively, and will be conditioned  for release to the wild late this year or early next year. Both are scheduled for release at Blue Springs  State Park where Columbus manatee, Comet, was successfully  released in 2000. Gene was also moved to the Lowry Park  Zoo.

 In the short term, this changes  our role in the program from one of rehabilitation and release  to one of medical conditioning and research. In the long  term, it is hoped that successful resolution of papillomavirus  question in manatees will allow our facility to return to  releases including the three newly arrived females. It is  an exciting change and challenge for our husbandry staff  and  veterinarians.