Stop Calling the Cops on Sex-Crazed Manatees
Police in Pinellas County, Florida are asking residents to please, do not call them if you happen to see manatees flopping around in the water en masse, they’re just having an orgy.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office posted a brief video on Facebook depicting a small manatee herd in the surf, in flagrante. “If you see this,” the cops posted, “don’t call us. They are more than fine. It’s mating season.”
In fact it’s always mating season for manatees, as the docile but amorous mammals get busy year round, however they can become particularly frisky in the warmer summer months. When they go at it, flippers flail and flopping bodies churn in the shallows, putting on quite a show.
Polyamorous group sex commences when a female manatee is in estrus, which typically triggers any males in the vicinity who squirm and shove one another as they jockey for position. Don’t approach these beasts with several backs, as their flopping 1000-pound girths can be a hazard, and do not call the cops.
Another reason to let the sea cows do their thing: the manatee population has been hit hard in recent years because their favorite food, sea grass, is increasingly hard to come by. More than 1,100 manatees died off in 2021 – the highest Florida death toll in a single year. About 800 more died last year and, so far in 2023, an estimated 400 manatees have gone down, with most deaths related to malnourishment.
If you’d like to do more for the manatees than merely let them copulate in peace, visit Save the Manatee for info and to donate to the cause.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Photo credit: Gregory Sweeney / Getty Images
