FE8RUAR'Y
A PUBLICATION OF THE ASSOCIATED STIJOENTS ENVIRO M HTAL CENTER WESTE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
VOLUME 2 HUMBER 3
large, gentle creatures that possess one o the oat omely faces in the ani 1 kingdo. Thy ar also str c ly herbivorous, eating bet een one hundred and if y to three hundr d ounds of grass per day. They are built si ilar to tb Dugonga of India, hich like natee, are members of the order Siey have road flat ened hales, no h nd limbs, and s all fore f ipper. Often calle s a cos, hey are in fact ore c osely related to th elephant. At one tie there re tens of thousand of Manate along both coasts of Florida . By 1927 hovevr s a e ha o pas a lav prohibiting their ki ling because of possi ili · ea of their extinct on. Althou h nt·ng for the o t par has s opp d nd the napossess no natural ene ies, they eti ber ess than a thouaan • . h o bigaea threa te a c ng these gentl creatures have co rom d velo nd speedboats. So ave b en killed y h ller of speedboa of Florid warning signs around c n and at rways. The problem of land deve t h b ss easy to de h. anat hig ly ce to ch ng their and because they only e c by
J of
The
Florida, beaches tr s, i
dy
tangles
of
angrove id nd iversifi · habitants. Thy range anywhere fro the o 1 cov re tourists and retired elderly hat blanket he beaches, to th alligator and di ond backed rattlesnakes that inhab t Florida's 'marsh sand i land ate Th of southern i
a
a Florida that has anaged to in build'ng n fore o he best of both orld. This croaching 1 d ani he anat e. ometimes have a n he irst sailors reported back to Europe cone min the at al. Th ne or d, they told stories of part seeing a half vo an, hal ish a- vere he ds long h shore ine of is no Florida. at hey n act chann on descr"bing, ho e eight Ca ib • to twelve foot en hun- reproduce and eoo dr d pound natee, is a ponderous seam Ponce let on, in his quest for the co for DOU of youth, also across hom. t and d " of the fro b o
· e,
pop
the arly attempts to clear "al v ter tb
areas el th ·r one
e f
in