he is 65 and incredibly slobbery cute (we are the ones slobbering over him- he is quite neat and very much the ladies man...)
a painting of a manatee- so you know what to be looking for- see his sawed off trunk (their closest living relative is the elephant) and the whiskers which act like tiny fingers and his nostrils for breathing when he comes up out of the water they open up and take in air--- he can stay submerged for 20 minutes or so. Their eyesight is bad but they have good hearing. they have nails on their flippers that resemble elephant toe nails... amazingly cute! look for his belly button on the photos of him rolled over on his back...
he eats romaine lettuce as his main food source which from a nutrition standpoint is pretty much the same as the manatee food source in the wild...
his belly button is to the left of the lettuce leaf he left floating for a snack later- LOL - he is munching a carrot which is his cue to roll over for inspection- it isn't a trick it is so his keepers can examine him daily as he is by far the oldest living manatee. they only live about 15 years in the wild so the museum had a big celebration for his 21st birthday (LOL 44 years ago!!!)
OMG look at that face! how cute is that???
there is a great time line of Snooty's life posted near his tank...
although the museum is small, it has other collections as well- including a current exhibit about Florida tourism in the earliest days of its development focusing on the "healthy climate" - there were some pretty amusing items in that exhibit....
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another exhibit focuses on Bradenton area business in the early days -
Wow - this looks dangerous - riding right on the gas tank!
one exhibit explores medicine in Manatee county-
a tourism sign on permanent display -
other areas of the museum focus on natural habitat for sea/forest/river wildlife-
a quick tour of the gift shop revealed many manatee items for sale (no surprise here!)
then because we had dawdled our time away had to rush to dinner- LOL then the following day it was off to spring training for a game between the cardinals and the tigers at Joker Marchant stadium in Lakeland...
the local strawberry festival in Plant City is going on right now so strawberry short cake was sold off trays by people walking through the stands just like the beer hawkers (now this is the was to enjoy a ball game!)
the cardinals lost but the day was beautiful and Angela & Lee got to enjoy some sunshine and warm weather. their flight left shortly after the game so we said goodbye at the airport and headed home to prepare for our next round of house guests...LOL
