The World Needs More Manatees

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So you stay stocked and ready for whatever your operation demands. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click Grainger.com, or stop by. Grainger. For the ones who get it done. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here too. And this is Stuff You Should Know. I can't believe we haven't done this one yet episode. Yeah, can I tell you something that happened just now while you were away? Yeah. So, Josh, as you do traditionally, I hope this is not revealing too much, between episodes, you got up to go to the little podcaster's room. I tinkled. Okay. And I said, Jerry, we're doing an episode on manatees. And she said, see puppies. And I said, see cows. And she said, who are puppies? What? Yeah. Jerry's brain is broke. Well, I think she just was like, no, I call them puppies. I see. I get it now. I get it. She was saying, who, I thought she was saying like, who are puppies? Like a completely unrelated non sequitur. Like if sea cows aren't puppies, then who are puppies? That's what I get how she was saying it now. Man, we're losing it here on our middle to old age. We really are. You're middle, I'm old. No, we're both middle old. We're in our fifties, dude. We're the same from here on out. Oh, man. Until death. Thank God. You can't hold that 40s thing over me any longer. No, but it was fun while it lasted for sure. Although now I'm like, oh, I'm going through all the same phases Chuck went through, right? That I used to make fun of them for. Now they've befallen me. So just yuck it up, buddy. Yuck it up. You're going to start playing golf in a few years. That's my prediction. People are already calling for you. They're like, can we get Josh on the phone? Can he play golf once and just get him on three putt bogey? And I was like, I mean, I'll do it if he'll do it, but I don't think you could get Josh on a golf course. It depends if there was no one else on the golf course and it was just you, Adam and me. Yeah, that'd be fun. I would probably try that. Sure. But if you are into manatees, I don't blame you one bit because they are, if you look at them on paper, they are not at all cute. They're horrifically ugly. No. But they're not. They're not. In reality, when you see a manatee, it all comes together in just such a certain way that they're incredibly adorable. Even the fully grown adults one. And then they are exactly in personality and nature what they look like too, which makes them even better in my opinion. Yeah. Maybe the most huggable animal on planet earth. And there's some huggable animals, but man, those manatees just give you a look like, come over here, fella, and wrap your arms around me. Right. But don't do that. No, don't. You don't want to touch a manatee. It's not cool. You know, here in Florida, there was a place that was opening and they had released all these billboards and everything saying, there's a giant picture of a sloth. And it said, yes, you can hold them. And the people of Orlando just rose up and were like, that is not going to happen. And I guess they lobbied to get the authorities to go take those sloths away from the people that were opening that sloth park. And it ain't happening now. And I'll bet they wish they hadn't put, yes, you can hold them on the billboard. Yeah, probably so. But I thought that was pretty cool. No, I love it. They're doing the right thing. So let's get back to manatees, Chuck. We're going to start with the brass tacks, which is Cockney rhyming slang for facts. And there's actually three species still around today. There's the Amazonian manatee, the West African manatee, and the West Indian manatee. And this has gotten pretty dry already. Well, they belong to the animal order Cyrenia. And we'll see why in a second, because that's pretty interesting, actually. And it turns out that there were a lot of former relatives that had gone extinct, like various kinds of sea cows that are related to the manatee or at least led to the modern manatee. Sadly, a lot of those were hunted into extinction. But these jokers have been around for 58 million years. And get this. To me, this may be the fact of the episode. They share a common, a very close common ancestor with elephants. And at a certain point in time, when these elephants were hanging out in the water, I guess one decided they liked the water so much they stuck around and stuck around and stuck around. And eventually those arms became flippers. That trunk shrunk down into a cute little snout. The legs became a tail. And that became the manatee. So you're looking at sort of a weird water elephant. Isn't that neat? It's the best. So they never became fully aquatic. They still breathe air. They're mammals. So they still breathe air, although they've definitely adapted to life in the sea, essentially, because they can exhale 90 percent of the air in their lungs on exhaling. Right. And then that means they can also fill it up with another 90 percent of fresh air and they can hold their breath for quite a while. But they still need air to breathe. And they never really made it that far. They're far away from land. They still kind of hug the coastal areas. They're never very far. They're not like ocean going normally. Although apparently once in a while a manatee will be found like up in Rhode Island or Massachusetts or something. And it's because they just kind of bumbled their way along the rivers and estuaries all the way up there. And they usually get airlifted back down to Florida when they're found up there because they're not supposed to be up quite that high. Yeah. And when they get back, they go to their buddy, say, you know what's nice? And they go, what? And they say, New England. Right. And they say, tell us all about it. And what do they say? And they say, well, first of all, Rhode Island. Don't get me started. They're like, but what about Delaware? Is Delaware any good? And they're like, yeah, Delaware gets kind of a bad rap. Delaware's not New England. No? No. Do you know where Delaware is? Where is it? Yeah. Where is it on a map? It's in New England. All right. Let's just move on. All right. Let's describe the manatee. Because like you said, they're sort of ugly cute. They have grayish brown skin. It is very wrinkly and tough looking. They got some little alfalfa sprout hairs here and there. The big, long, tapered, round bodies tapering down to that paddle-shaped tail. Those little flippers have three or four nails. It's not even that specific. Some guys are like, I wanted three. Some guys wanted four. And then they have that little snout, which is whiskered, but has prehensile lips. Yeah. Let's talk about those. They're basically like two little hands that the manatee uses to like basically grasp and pull seagrass, eelgrass out of the sandy bottom that it's growing in. Right? And that sounds an awful lot like the trunk of an elephant, doesn't it? It sure does. They also, the tails that they evolve with their back legs fused into, they're actually, as slow as they kind of move along, I think they usually travel at about three to six miles an hour on average. Perfect. But those tails are so powerful that if you give them an unhealthy jolt, they will zoom off very quickly at top speeds of 15 miles an hour, and they can do a burst of 21 feet per second when they first get away from you. Yeah. And you know what they say after that? What? Man, that sucks. I hate doing that. Yeah, I'll bet they do. I hate spinning. They're like, yeah. But those little flippers, and you know, we're going to point along some stuff that we think is especially cute along the way. This is one of them. I don't know if we will agree on the, to me, the single kind of cutest thing. So we'll see. It's always fun to see if those align. But those little flippers, they're obviously kind of steering themselves. They're paddling with that tail. But they also use that little flipper to hold seagrass. They'll tuck it under their little flipper because they're like, I might want a little snack along the way. Isn't that cute? I love it. They might as well be carrying like their little pencil case on the road. of the school. up something. Totally. And so Michelle Konstantinowski from HowStuffWorks was one of our sources for this episode. And she is a huge manatee fan. And she found, I think, a mention from Smithsonian that referred to manatees as roly-poly herbivores. I also saw floaty potatoes. But they both kind of get across. These things are big lumps that just like to go along and eat stuff. And big is definitely like a good way to describe them. I think when they're born, they're something like four feet long and 60 to 70 pounds when they're born. That's a puppy, as Jerry would say. That's a big baby. I think they're actually called calves. Fully grown, about 8 to 1,200 pounds on average and about 10 feet long. But the biggest daddies can be up to 13 feet long and weigh 3,500 pounds, which is huge. They live in that brackish water. They also like some fresh water, as we'll see, because there's some other cute stuff coming your way in terms of that. And like, you know, they'll go into rivers sometimes, like kind of brackish rivers, coastal rivers. They love the stuff near the shore because that's where all that delicious seagrass and eelgrass is. And so they just feed along the coastlines where that seagrass is. And they want the deep water access. Although, as you said, they don't hang out there, but if they need to get out of Dodge, they want to be able to go to deeper waters quickly. Exactly. Right. So they know what's going on. They know where to go. But for the most part, they don't really have to evacuate an area very quickly, very often, as we'll see. Just a little taste of what's to come. They're also solitary. They're considered solitary animals, but they very frequently congregate to like basically graze together. They'll hang out. And then when they move, together, like say they're grazing together and they're moving from one place to another, they keep in a single file, which I find super cute, but they don't have any territory and they're not territorial. They just kind of go wherever the food is. And everybody loves them. The thing is, as big as they are, they don't have blubber. You might think they're just like fat. No, they're beefy hosses essentially is what they are. And that means that they can't stay warm. In very cold water. So they have to find warm water in the winter months. Yeah. Anything below 68 degrees, they can be in it for a short time, but they're not into it at all. So they kind of hang around the Gulf of Mexico and Peninsular Florida, where it's nice and warm. They also love those natural warm springs that you can find in Florida. There's one that's very popular with the manatees called Blue Spring State Park that has lovely water that stays about 72 degrees. Into the winter. And so they will congregate there and they're reviewing platforms and people will stand around and gawk and talk about how cute they are. The other interesting thing they'll do for warmth is where they're generating power, like where the outfalls are for power plants, the water is a little warmer there so they can hang out there sometimes. Yeah. I find that pretty cool too. I think the manatees you're going to find in Florida. So remember the Florida manatee is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee. And that's basically who we're going to focus on. Yeah. But the Florida manatee itself, that subspecies is native to Florida and they've been there for probably around 12,000 years. I think that they moved from the Caribbean to Florida about 12,000 years ago after the last ice age is what they figured from genetic testing. Yeah. But they think they've been, you know, except for the ice ages have been around Florida for over a million years total. Right. Yeah. Impressive. The other subspecies, West Indian, that is the close, close relative, it may be even the same, but just with a different range as the Florida manatee is the Antillean or Caribbean manatee, which I think we already mentioned. They're found throughout the Caribbean and along the coast of the Gulf of America. We found that, Chuck, didn't we, on the Fish and Wildlife Service site. Yeah. It was the first time across it in the wild, but that's a U.S. government website. And they referred to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America with a totally straight face. Yeah, they did. And I texted you and said, well, I'm not going to tell you things I said, but we're going to call it the Gulf of Mexico. So that's where they hang out. They are distributed from like northern Mexico all the way down to the northeastern coast of Brazil. And I think you mentioned the Caribbean. And they get around. Like you said, they go where the food is. So they may travel not much sometimes. They may travel hundreds of miles in a year if they need to get food. Yeah. They find themselves in Rhode Island and say, oh, dear. Oh, my. Yeah. So you know that Christopher Columbus cat? Uh-huh. He is credited for documenting the first sighting of a European of a manatee. But he was a dipstick and he recorded them as seeing three mermaids. Did you know that? Well, so is that what? He was talking about like, do we know that he was talking about manatees? No, he was talking about mermaids. And they're like, this is a manatee. Yeah. Well, no, that's what I mean, though. But have we is it kind of verified that those were one in the same to him? That seems to be the general consensus that that's what he was talking about. All right. I believe it, I guess. Because he said that the the mermaids were, quote, not half as beautiful as they are painted. Well, yeah. And, you know, when I mentioned earlier to put a pin in the order, that is sirenia, that's from the Greek sirens and Greek mythology. And the sirens initially were bird women, but then eventually were mermaids. Right. So I guess that's where dumb, dumb Christopher Columbus thought they were mermaids. So did you know that siren or some version of it means mermaid in a bunch of different languages like that aren't at all related, like Tagalog and Catalan and Catalan and Croatian all basically use some version of it. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that until this. Me either, Chuck. You want to take a break? Yeah. What were you going to say about that fact? That was today years old. Okay. Now, do you want to take a break? Sure. No, let's keep going. Oh, okay. No, I'm kidding. We'll take that break and we'll gaze at pictures of manatees and be back in a minute. First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this? Hey, this is Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know. That's Alan Goya, a planning engineer at AT&T. And he's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, redefining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible. It was going to rival anything that was already built. And that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page. That includes field services manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day. Through what Alan's whole crew designed, we connected the event visitors to the world. And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night. To actually see the whole stadium light up and data's flowing, it's a beautiful thing. What the fans experience, it's incredible. It gave me a lot of pride. AT&T, connecting fans to what they love. Connecting changes everything. AT&T. That's right. Whether you're just swapping out a busted appliance or going all in on a top to bottom home makeover for the holidays, Wayfair has you covered. Thousands of products, every style, every budget. And it's all built for real life. Every item is hand vetted by specialists with a 10 point quality inspection. And on top of that, with over 20 million verified five-star reviews, you can have total confidence in all the picks you make. So remember when refreshing your home this holiday season, Wayfair delivers exactly what you need. Just head to wayfair.com to shop all things Wayfair. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Here's a question for all you curious people. What's one thing you wish there was an app for? With Base44, you can build it yourself. It might be something simple, like a tool for a task your team does every week. You want the steps, useful links, and everyone's progress in one place. Well, with Base44, describe that in your own words. You don't need to know coding or programming. Then you just keep editing and referring to it. Until it works exactly the way you want. Your build comes headache-free with built-in login, data storage, backend, and hosting. So what's the app you wish existed? Try it free and upgrade when you're ready. Go to base44.com to get started. All right, we're back, everybody. Josh mentioned that they are herbivores well, we mentioned they ate seagrass, but they are strictly herbivores. They love that sweet, sweet seagrass. And, you know, in the House of Works article, they point out that there's probably some, you know, little bits of krill and other shrimpy things that might get in their mouth. But they're probably like, I don't want that in my mouth. I just want that sweet seagrass. And I want to spend eight hours of my day eating that stuff, maybe up to 10% of my body weight, because that's how I roll. Yeah. And the reason they have to eat so much is because they very, very slowly metabolize. They're like naturally on GLP-1 or something like that. Exactly. That actually, there's a purpose for that. It's an adaptation that helps the manatee from overheating in very warm waters. But unfortunately, natural selection giveth and natural selection taketh away, because that means that they can't easily burn enough energy to warm up. And so, you know, they're like, I don't want that in my mouth. And so, you know, in cold water, which is why they have to go seek out things like power plant outfalls in the winter months so they don't freeze to death. Yeah, totally. Here's another kind of fun fact. They, you know, when you're eating all that seagrass, you're going to be getting sand in there too, and that's going to wear their teeth down. And so one adaptation that they have is they have a tooth replacement like we do. Those molars are continually replaced throughout their life. They just grind down from that sand and eventually will fall out. And they're another molar emerging right behind it. Yeah. Do you know what other animal does that? Humans. Elephants. Oh, okay. We don't replace new teeth. I mean, we do with like crowns and stuff like that. Well, I mean, we lose our baby teeth and get our molars in. Oh, sure. Yeah. I gotcha. I gotcha. I got another fact about their teeth too, Chuck. Wait, do you still have all your baby teeth? Yes. What's your fact? They're incapable of using their teeth to attack. They're set too far back in their mouth. So the best a manatee could do is gum you. Yeah. And they wouldn't even do that. They essentially seem to be incapable of aggressive behavior. They just don't do it. You know, like with dolphins, dolphins can get kind of assaulty sexually sometimes. They can get very aggressive. No one has ever seen or documented a manatee getting aggressive in any way, shape or form, not just with people, but with other animals too. It's pretty cool. Yeah. That's super cool. And, you know, earlier I mentioned there's a little cute thing that they do with the freshwater, their desire for freshwater. They will find that freshwater wherever it is. Sometimes it's at the mouth of a river, they'll hang out. Sometimes they will lie on their back when it rains and just open their big maw and drink that way. And sometimes, and imagine you're a very lucky boat cleaner, if you're hanging out, cleaning your boat at a dock and you throw that hose down on the dock, you should turn it off. But if you're just letting it run, you might find a manatee down there just lapping it up. Yes. So you, me and I were very, very lucky for years. We lived on the Indian River Lagoon and there was a dock that belonged to the condo and you could go down there and watch manatees drinking hose water a lot of the time. That's so cool, man. It was very cool to see for sure. What a thing. That's a thing to do every evening. Yeah. It's super cute, as you can imagine, right? We also learned that manatee poop floats. Oh, okay. And then speaking of floating too, so manatees would conceivably be too buoyant, but they have very dense bones that keep them from just floating all the time. But they do need to come up for breaths and then go back down. And they actually use their lungs for that, I believe. Yeah, this was the one. This is what I think the cutest visual there is, is when manatees are sleeping, they're breathing and they're just bobbing up and down in the water while they're sleeping because their lungs are filling up and then expelling air. Isn't that cute? Oh my God. Can't take it. So now we're going to turn the page for a moment. Not so cute. There is a thing about manatees that you may not know. A lot of people don't know. And it can be really disturbing to witness. And that is the mating process of manatees. Because even though manatees are considered solitary animals, when they mate, they form what are called mating herds. And it is a mating free-for-all that happens. Yeah. I mean, this article describes them as indiscriminate breeders. And that is a nice way to say what's happening here. They are obviously not monogamous. They don't even pair up to mate. There is a single female manatee that gets in heat. And then like up to 12 male manatees that are all following closely behind. Like, come on, come on, come on. You like me? You like me? And it turns into just a big sex-for-all, basically, in shallow waters where people can stand around and like call the cops because they think something's wrong. Like that literally happens. Yeah. In 2023, the cops, the sheriff's office from Clearwater, St. Pete, Pinellas County, they had to post something asking people to stop calling them to report manatees in distress, that the manatees were actually mating and that's what they were supposed to be doing. But yeah, it's very, it's, it's very disturbing to see. It's really, you can't believe what you're seeing if you see manatees, you know, act the way manatees act, you know, and then you kind of realize like, oh my God, they're really freaky when they mate. Did you and you and me see this stuff at your dock? We went to another dock. There was an even better place that we could drive to. And it was a great place to see manatees. And one of the times we went, we witnessed a mating herd and like they were just rolling and splashing all around the water. It was like, you know, those balls of snakes, like when snakes mate. It was like that, but with manatees, basically. It was something else. If you don't know, and you're used to them just gently floating around, you would definitely be like, something is wrong here. So that was it though. That's their only vice is the mating ritual. After that, they go right back to being super cute and adorable again, right? Hey, good for them. Yeah. More power to them, right? That's, that's how it's done in manatee world. What else is done in manatee world is a very loving, nurturing mother-calf relationship. Which is adorable. Like if you're like manatees, whatever, you guys still haven't won me over yet. Go look up videos of mother manatees interacting with their, their baby calves and that will get you no matter who you are. Like hugging and kissing their little babies. They gestate for about 12 to 14 months. Mamas do almost always a single calf, but occasionally in rare cases, there have been twins. And this can happen any time of year, although they seem to give birth more. And they like to go to a quiet little place to give birth. I know we mentioned about four feet long and about 60 to 70 pounds for a calf. And they can be born apparently either head or tail first. We don't have a lot of like direct documentation, but they have seen a few born in, I guess, captivity. And they do know that the newborn calf can swim to the surface on its own right away. And also vocalize pretty soon after birth as well. And like clearly like communicating with mom. Yeah. The little baby calf manatees have a squeak that they use to pester their mom until she lets them nurse. And they start nursing like within a few hours after birth and they nurse underwater. The manatee mom's teats are right behind her flippers and she just hangs around and lets the baby nurse. And I think they start eating plants a few weeks later. And one of the things that gets in the way of that is that the manatee calf will stay with their mom for potentially two years. Yeah. But they can find and eat food on their own by the end of year one. They just stick around and are raised and nurtured for another year after that. Isn't that adorable? It's just the best. Earlier too, you mentioned that they swim in single file lines. That is true in all cases except little baby because baby sticks next to mama and swims parallel right behind her flipper. And they think that this is, you know, so they can communicate more effectively. Or the baby's like, that's where the teat is. And I like to keep it in close proximity, right? Yeah. I got to see that thing. So I said that manatees do not behave aggressively. Even if you approach a manatee and her calf, she's not going to come at you. What she'll do at first is to swim between you and the calf, right? Like I'm trying to send you a signal here, like please back off. Very nice message. And if you keep coming, especially if you like are hunchbacked and you have claws and are just kind of coming at them like that, she and she'll squeak to the manatee and they will both just take off very quickly away from you. That's the most that they do when they're threatened. They don't, they don't attack at all. Yeah. It's just now occurring to me that these are the most Canadian sea mammals that exist. That's right. They may even be drifting into like Swede territory. Maybe or. Maybe Sconnies. Cause buddy, I just went to the Falcons game in green Bay at the legend. Lambeau Field. Oh, yeah. And I know we did our show in Madison. This is like a bucket list trip for me. Oh, cool. It was almost like it was faked for like the Truman Show. I've never been around a kinder, more hospitable. And I'm from the South. I'm used to Southern hospitality. This puts Southern hospitality to shame how kind and sweet everybody was. That's pretty cool. It was off the charts. I remember in our Gein episode, we found that he used to be like, I'm really sorry about this when he was murdering somebody or stealing their corpse from the grave. Wisconsin. Why are you going to do that? That's great. Who won? Well, the Falcons won. The Falcons were terrible early in their first two games. And I was just like, hey, I don't care. I'm going to go and have a good time. And I felt really bad for the Packers fans because the Falcons whipped them 35 to I think 13 or 14 maybe. That is pretty bad for an NFL game, huh? Yeah. And again, they were just so nice. It was. I kind of wanted the Packers to win while I was there. And it was their first home game. And like a guy literally on the plane, like people were. Their version of talking smack was this guy, this old feller said, oh, I just hope nobody gets hurt. I was like, where am I? That's amazing. Yeah. So anyway, those are the manatees. The Packers fans are the manatees of the NFL? For sure. You know who wouldn't have felt bad for the Packers and would have been happy that they lost? Steelers fans. Yeah. Well, anyone in their division. Bears fans for sure. So, wow, that just really got. I basically stepped in something I couldn't finish. Just wipe it off your shoe. Wipe the NFL off your shoe. You'll be fine. So we should probably regroup and regather ourselves and take a break and come back and shake off the NFL stuff or get it off of my shoe, like you said. Yeah. And everybody hang tight because we're going to talk when we come back about the personality of the manatee. And if you thought they were nice before, just wait. It might be something simple, like a tool for a task your team does. Every week, you want the steps, useful links, and everyone's progress in one place. Then you just keep editing and refining it until it works exactly the way you want. Hey, everybody. 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Now available in Canada, and the UK as well. And when Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was stuff you should know. It's the best way to support the show. All right, Chuck, we promised talk about manatee personalities, and I think we've kind of gotten across that they're pretty mellow. They're very sweet and kind and gentle. And yes, they have to deal with that. I'm sorry. Yeah. They have no natural predators. They've been endemic, native to Florida for a million years, sorry, for at least 12,000 years, like the current manatee population there. Yeah. So they're not an invasive species. They're not new. And they're not apex predators. And so for a species to not have any natural predator under those circumstances is very, very rare. I couldn't find another example of it, to be honest. Yeah. They get along with everybody. Everybody in their habitat and ecosystem loves the manatee. Yeah. They will, in Florida, swim side by side with alligators and they have the right of way. If there's an alligator in the way, they will just bump the alligator and the alligator will be like, sure, buddy, you go right on ahead. Because I think the general idea down there is they've all got together without the manatees and had a meeting and said, we're not going to eat them, right? And everyone said, no, no, no, of course not. What are we, animals? Right. Very nice. I just imagined all the animals at that meeting wearing gaucho hats with those little fabric balls hanging around the brim. I'm surprised that Disney has not done a manatee thing yet. I am too, now that you mention it. Yeah. Gosh. Get on it, Disney. So you said that manatees will spend like eight hours eating a day. That actually leaves them with a decent amount of free time. And they just kind of hang out sometimes with other manatees. They just kind of lay around, kind of floaty. They'll sleep a lot, but they live the life that you would think a manatee would live just looking at them. They fulfill all of your manatee fantasies. When you look into them, it all checks out. Yeah. I think manatee fantasies is definitely a 70s album title. That's yacht rock through and through. Yeah, for sure. But because they have no predators, they're super curious because they're like, nothing's going to eat me. So they're like, I'm going to eat you. I'm going to eat you. So let's check everything out. And so they'll swim up to your kayak. They'll swim up to your small boat. They'll swim up to you if you're swimming along sometimes or scuba diving. In Florida, manatee swims up to you. Here's the deal, though. Federal guidelines now say if you're diving and snorkeling down there, if a manatee comes up to you and you don't approach it, you can touch it with an open hand if you want, which is not something that any or even threatened species like is allowed. And there are definitely a lot of conservationists and marine biologists that are like, no, don't like don't tell people that like just don't touch the manatees. Don't don't do it. Yeah, it's there's a lot of reasons why. But the big one is because they can very quickly become habituated to people very comfortable around you. If you feed them or they get used to people feeding them, they're going to become unnaturally habituated. And I've seen that any level of habituation is considered unnatural and that manatees that that aren't used to people will like if they see people on a beach that they're near, they'll take off like they get spooked. Right. So a manatee interacting with the person is not what manatees normally do. No, they're just naturally curious and they don't have predators. So they haven't developed like a sense of fear that keeps other animals at bay. And you as the human are having to be the bigger person here and just keep clear as much as you want to like hug that manatee, that manatee would probably let you do not do that. It's also dangerous. Like the manatee could accidentally kill you with this thirteen hundred pound girth or thirty five hundred pound girth, thirteen foot long body. So it's just you don't want to do that. You can also pass diseases to the manatee and kill them. So don't just be like an upstanding human. And look at them, you know, nearby, but don't go touch them. Yeah, I totally agree. Another sort of controversy in 2017. Good news is they were populations were showing a pretty good increase and like a steady one. And so they downgraded them from endangered to threatened. But this is, you know, the Save the Manatee Club who we're going to talk about. I mean, they're kind of the go to if you want to support manatees is Save the Manatee Club. But they came out and they were like, this is like, you know, they're like, you know, they're like, you know, they're like, you know, they're like, just don't do it like that. We're not there yet. People get the wrong idea. And all of a sudden the interests are for humans. And then the voters will keep thinking about it as much like just keep them on the endangered list, please. Also, it puts development interests, humans. Oh, sure. Like trying to make money developing areas that directly affect the habitats of manatees. They're like legally now they're they come well before the manatees. And so they're like, you know, they're right. So it was probably a pretty bad move back in 2017. And the reason it became even more clear it was a bad move was that in 2021, there was a what the Fish and Wildlife called an unusual mortality event where twelve hundred and fifty five manatees died of starvation along the East Coast in just one section of Florida. and that made up probably maybe an eighth eighth of the entire population of Florida manatees. And they still weren't moved back to the endangered list. They were kept on the threatened list, which was just stupid. Yeah. That's a brutal number to die so quickly. It's very, very sad to hear about. This happened because they were making up for food loss. And the reason there's food loss is because humans and the activities of humans are what's killing manatees. I think they could live up to 60 years in the wild, but it looks like they average about 10 years because of people. One way people kill them is with their boats. Like striking a manatee, either with the front of your boat can be blunt force trauma or cutting them up with your propeller is a common way that manatees die. And then the 1,255, like I said, were making up for food loss and eating toxic algae. Uh, which killed them because, uh, their seagrass is dying because of a fertilizer runoff. Uh, yeah. So there's a lot of agriculture and a lot of lawn care that goes on in the interior of Florida. And Florida is essentially like a ridge, very, very flat ridge, but the, the water runs from the middle of Florida to the coasts. Right. And it carries a lot of fertilizer runoff, a lot of nitrogen. We've talked about algae blooms before. I think, probably largely in our Everglades episode, that happens where manatees hang out and eat too. And when there's an algae bloom, uh, it sucks up all of the oxygen from the water and kills off all of the plant life or it sucks up all the carbon dioxide, one of the two, uh, and kills off a lot of the plant life. And then it also turns to muck, which makes the water murkier than it should be, which keeps sunlight from reaching the remaining plants and kills off even more plants. And so the algae blooms alone have had a huge, huge impact on manatee habitats, uh, in the last, like several decades, last few decades. It's happened very, very quick, essentially. Yeah. And you know, you said you guys lived on the Indian river, is that right? Yeah. The lagoon. Well, I mean, you should take this part, even though you were just talking, because this is about the Indian river lagoon and you lived there, so you should tell that story. So what, what I was just talking about with the algae blooms, the Indian river lagoon is a major, um, manatee habitat. It's very, very long. I can't remember how long it is, but it's a inland brackish coastal waterway. There's a little spit of land between it and the Atlantic ocean. And then the Florida mainland starts on the other side of the lagoon. Right. And just the stuff that flows into it is mind boggling. Like there's like treated sewage gets put into it, but a lot of these towns, sewage systems can get disrupted or whatever. And so untreated sewage leaks into it very frequently. The space industry, Cape Canaveral is on the Indian river lagoon. So all that jet fuel and God knows what else is in the Indian river too. And then all of the algae blooms that happen every year, the, the Indian river turns reliably into like this brown stinking mess. It's, it's a problem. Right. And it, it just aesthetic, it's a problem in and of itself, but the impact it's had on the manatees has been astounding. Um, one, one thing I saw was that 90% of the seagrass in the Indian river lagoon has been lost in just like the last 15 to 20 years. Um, and that's, that's one of the places where that unusual mortality event happened in 2021 where 1,255 manatees starved to death. And what's even more heartbreaking, it's never been like this when I saw it, Chuck, but as recently as the sixties, it was just like this aquatic paradise, right? Yeah. Apparently you could see like, as you know, in 10 feet of water, it was just crystal clear and you could see the bottom. Uh, so I'm, I'm sure it's like super sad to see that stuff in person, you know? It is, but I, it is for sure. But it's also very cool. Like just to see so many bottlenose dolphins just swimming around manatees and stuff. It's, it's still a very wondrous place. And the, the die off really served as a wake up call for the state that was like, okay, we actually need to start taking this much more seriously. And I saw that in some places, some of the seagrasses come back as much as 75%. That's good. Yeah. And we're talking five years, that kind of a rebound. So all it's, all it takes is the state government actually doing something about it. They've never done anything about it up to that point. And now that they're starting to, and I still have a friend there named Wesley, who actually listens to the podcast. And I asked him like, Hey, is this, is it coming back? And, um, he said that he's read the same stuff, but he can't say directly that he's noticed, you know, anything remarkable, but he did say I was on the dock the other day. I saw a really big one swim by. It was amazing. And also he's in Santorini, Greece right now. He is. Is that where he saw the manatee? No, no. He was talking about at home. In the Indian river lagoon. Oh, I got you. Okay. Thanks for indulging me that Chuck. It was nice to kind of reminisce about hanging out with manatees there. Yeah. I mean, from what I gather, like Florida, obviously there's like the, um, it seems like the people of Florida care about the ecological systems there and it's being wrecked in a lot of cases by like as usual development and the almighty dollar. But, um, from what I can tell, like, the folks in Florida really, really love all that stuff and care about it. Yeah. But I mean, they also love a thriving economy and tourist industry too. So it is a balance, but yes, you're right. It does seem like people care and live off the land or live in close proximity to land more than say, like, um, name a state, any state Delaware, Delaware. Thank you. All right. So we mentioned the save the manatees club, any state, if you, if you want to support manatees, you can go to manatees.org. And if you want to support manatees, you can go to save the manatees club is the place to do it. It was founded in 1981 by none other than the cheeseburger in paradise himself, Jimmy Buffett, uh, and former Florida Senator and governor Bob Graham. And you can sponsor a manatee and charity navigator gives them rave reviews there. You get a four out of four rating and 85% of their funds go directly to programs. So I am going to, uh, we're going to adopt a manatee as a family for sure. That's awesome. Uh, same. I, now I feel ashamed that I haven't ever before. No, there's, it's never too late. Also, if you are a boater and you live in Florida and you, there's a lot of laws and rules and regulations you can observe to keep safe and keep from propeller strikes, which is another one that kills off a lot of manatees. In fact, propeller strikes happen so much, Chuck, some manatee researchers track individual manatees based on the unique scar patterns on their backs from getting hit by propellers. So boaters actually can do a lot to help manatees as well. Um, and one thing you can do is if you ever see a manatee that's in distress or not mating, but like actually in distress, or you see a calf by itself or one with fresh wounds or something like that, you can report them to Florida fish and wildlife. Um, if you are in the Gulf of Mexico, they'll be sure to call it the Gulf of America, or they won't know what you're talking about. And slow it down. Be cool. If you're in shallow waters, just, just take it easy and keep your eyes peeled. I'm sure a lot of the boaters are aware of this and do the right thing, but, uh, all, all boaters should. Yep. Uh, agreed, Chuck. And, um, I think, I think that brought up listener mail, don't you? That's right. I promised two square words in this one, uh, because Greg Carroll has a filthy mouth and the email starts as this. Hey guys, Greg Carroll here. I've been a listener for a few years now. Uh, you're really the only podcast that I enjoy listening to. Actually. I just finished a good walk, ruined colon, the history of golf. I enjoyed this episode quite a bit is I am myself a weekend warrior golfer. Uh, you guys touch on the origin of how golf got the name golf. And I just want to let you guys know that they called it golf, uh, because the words were already taken, or at least this is what I tell myself while I shank my irons or try to sink a third putt for bogey. Uh, anyway, you guys are awesome. I love the topics you talk about. I look forward to the new episodes every week. I've learned a lot of new things from you guys and look forward to many more years of stuff you should know. Thank you. Greg Carroll. That was a great one. Thanks. Great. Great. Great. Great. Um, that's what I thought that was a good one. Great. And great reference, essentially the name of your podcast, Chuck. And I have no idea what the name of the podcast means. Uh, three putt bogey. Uh, we called it three putt on a hole is when you got a good hole going and you're on the green with a chance to like make birdie and you miss that putt. And then you're like, well, I can still make par and you miss that putt and you sank that three putt for bogey. And then you just, you say the words that gray said and you walk through the next hole because every new hole is a new start. Got it. Thanks for explaining that. It's a great title. I liked it before, but just cause of how it sounded and looked. Yeah. Uh, if you want to go get Chuck and Adam's new, uh, podcast, it's called the three putt bogey and you can get it anywhere you find podcasts because it's big time. And, uh, in the meantime, while you're listening to three putt bogey too, you can send us an email and tell us how much you like three putt. bogey chuck is there like an email people can email for three putt bogey uh yeah you can email three putt bogey podcast and also follow on instagram at three putt bogey podcast and that's the number three very nice uh and you can email us at stuff you should know as always at stuff podcast at iheartradio.com stuff you should know is a production of iheart radio for more podcasts my heart radio visit the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows curious people ask great questions and here's one what's something you wish there was an app for well with base 44 you can build it yourself maybe it's a tool to organize a project or track a hobby or share knowledge solve a problem that's always bugged you just describe what you want in your own words no coding required base 44 handles the day-to-day life of a podcast and i'll see you next time database login backend and hosting try it for free go to base44.com to get started hey everybody i am here to talk to you about dude wipes who offer fragrance-free wipes that are made with 99 water and plant-based ingredients so they're gentle enough for sensitive skin but they're tough enough for even the worst messes wetter cleans better and dude wipes flushable wipes deliver textbook freshness and ultimate clean and just like human body molecules dude wipes are made with 99 water plus they're plasticized so you can use them to clean your plastic free dude wipes give the best clean pants down dude wipes available at major retailers nationwide with no fees or minimums on checking accounts it's no wonder the capital one bank guy is so passionate about banking with capital one if he were here he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums he'd also talk about how capital one cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs yep even on weekends it's pretty much all he talks about man a good way what's in your wallet terms apply see capital one dot com slash bank guy capital one n a member fdic this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human