Survival is so much more than a numbers game

The removal of the manatee from the endangered list in 2017 may well have signed the death warrant for this gentle creature and was in large part due to the apparent population growth over the previous decades.

In 1996 a state survey found 2,639 manatees;

in January 1997, 2,229 were counted, but in February only 1,706;

in January 2010 5,067 manatees were found;

by 2017 it was decided that there were at least 6,100 manatees in Florida.

But critics argue, and I agree, that the increased numbers were not due to more individuals, but rather to more accurate counting methods, aided by digital technology.

Today, manatees face threats from multiple sources, and all are due to human activities. Collisions with boats is the biggest killer year on year, but there are also mass die off events from loss of habitat and the destruction of seagrass, exposure to red tide and the loss of warm water habitat which is so vital for winter survival. And that's before we even consider global warming.

2021 witnessed an unprecedented 1101 dead manatees, over 100 to boat strikes and most to starvation. By mid-March of this year 420 more have perished.

In the US there are over 1300 species on the endangered list of which 68 are mammals. An endangered species is one that has a very high risk of extinction. Many people interpret this as meaning the fewer the individuals that remain, the closer a species is to vanishing forever. While this is true, there are several other important factors that can put even a relatively abundant species like the manatee, at risk. Key amongst these are reduced genetic diversity and destruction of habitat, not to mention mass mortality events like the one we are witnessing right now.