At the front gate of the Animal Preserve a boat picks up the tourists and takes them on a tour down the river. At the beginning is George, a real live alligator, warming up in the sunshine. He sits on a log watching all the visitors pass by.
No, its not a rock in the river. It's a manatee. Manatees are from the same family as elephants. Just look at the back of this manatee, floating in the display pool.
Manatees are vegetarians. In the display pool, where you can view a few of the manatees that are permanent residents of the park, you can watch the manatees feeding on lettuce and cabbages.
Elsewhere in the park they have an area called the fishbowl. It's an underwater viewing area. You go down below water level and through huge glass windows you can view the sea life. Above is a manatee swimming in toward the fishbowl.
Manatees are not able to live in cold temperatures. During the winter months when the waters of the ocean and the Gulf of Mexico begin to get cold, the manatees move up the coastal rivers where the temperatures are warmer. During the day they move upstream to where the waters are warm. In the evenings they move back toward the ocean where the coastal waters are thriving with lots of plants for them to eat. If you look close you can see the black dots in the water, they're manatees. Manatees are a very gentle, docile creature but they are an endangered species. Many are killed each year by boats with propellers. Manatees are mammals and therefore need to breathe air, so they must surface for air and are often hit by the propellers of boats.
The manatees are the main attraction of the game preserve but the park is the showcase of many of the animals that can be found in Florida. One of the displays is the 'gator' pond.
Flamingoes are a bird that live in Florida.
Other birds that are found in Florida are the Great Blue Heron, pelicans, ibises, owls and.....
the American Bald Eagle.
They also have cougars and
lynx.
At the end of the day we went to a demonstration about alligators. Can you see the baby alligator the park volunteer is holding and the girl is petting?
