Heat lover

1987/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia

Manatees, large and inert marine mammals, love heat. They do not withstand the cold environment. Therefore, when the water temperature drops to 20ºC, they move to warmer areas. Formerly, when the Florida manatees arrived in winter they were heading south in search of warmth.

Currently they do not. They accumulate in search of heat around the hot water sinks of the power plants located on the coast. There the waters are quite temperate because of the hot water that leads to the central.

All this has been very beneficial for Florida biologists, as they can easily contrast the evolution of a potentially threatened species.