Manatees mating in local waters

Along the Emerald Coast, it's fairly common to see dolphins, manta rays, sea turtles and other marine animals. But manatees cause more of a stir.

That's why Niceville veterinarian Jenny Fortune and her husband were slow to identify what was swimming between them in hip-deep water near Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park recently.

"I'm looking at it, going ‘Oh my God, what is it?' " Fortune said. "These things are giant. Your brain just doesn't compute."

She said they first thought it might be a large manta ray. They quickly realized that the creature wasn't flat, but very, very bulky.

"It just kept going, it was like a train," she said. "Finally, at the tail end, you could see a flipper."

Manatees do visit local waters infrequently during the summer, according to Andy Garrett, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"It will be hit or miss," he said. "It won't be like traveling the waterways around South Florida."

They even mate here, he said.

Fortune, who called the FWC wildlife hotline after her manatee sighting, said she was told that there were five breeding manatees near Destin.

No one at FWC could confirm that conversation. However, officials said that folks who do see courtships often call it in out of concern for the animals.

Garrett said that several males will chase a lone female into shallow water, where she will wait until she is ready to receive them.

Typical calls involve folks worrying that the female is injured and other manatees are trying to help it by pushing it to shallow water.

"That's what they think they're seeing," Garrett said. "What they're actually seeing is the male trying to get underwater to mate with her and she's not letting them."