Wednesday, February 23, 2000
Manatee exhibit extends to Florida
Zoo fund will help track released animal
BY JIM HANNAH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Life has not been easy for Xoshi the manatee. The 1,300-pound mammal was rescued from a canal in West Palm Beach, Fla., after she was abandoned as a calf in 1995. She had abscesses on her body and was malnourished — weighing only 120 pounds.
She received a second chance to swim freely in Florida's freshwater lakes and rivers on Tuesday after being nursed back to health.
Technology paid for by the Cincinnati Zoo Conservation Fund — a nonprofit group that supports field conservation projects — will track Xoshi via satellite.
“The release went very well,” said Bob Bonde, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, the federal agency that studies manatees. Mr. Bonde helped release Xoshi into St. Johns River, about 30 minutes northeast of Orlando. She was nursed back to health at Lowry Park Zoological Gardens in Tampa.
“She had a strike against her. She would have died without being rescued as an orphan or abandoned calf. Mother Nature had put her on borrowed time.”
The satellite will allow conservationists to monitor Xoshi's movements, giving an early warning if she becomes sick or injured.
The technology also will let visitors to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden see Xoshi's position from a computer terminal at the Manatee Springs exhibit, which opened in May 1999.
“The big thing we can do here in Cincinnati is tell the manatees' story,” said Dave Jenike, director of education for the zoo. “The Florida manatee is an endangered species here in the United States. We have an opportunity to tell everyone visiting the zoo ... what it will take to save the manatee in the wild.”
The $4 million, 11,500-square-foot Manatee Springs exhibit is devoted exclusively to Florida wildlife.
The premier attraction is the manatees, living in a 120,000-gallon freshwater tank. Douglas, a 700-pound 4-year-old orphan, and Stoneman, an 800-pound 5-year-old born in captivity, came from Miami.
They were lent to Cincinnati as part of a U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife program designed to free space in Florida facilities for the critical care of manatees injured by boat propellers or tangled in fishing line, the two biggest threats to their well-being.
Tracking the movements of Xoshi and other manatees will help conservationists map migrating patterns so boats can be slowed through heavily inhabited areas.
“Florida manatees are an endangered species, and the Cincinnati Zoo is a partner ... with other conservation services to help protect this species,” said Mr. Jenike. “The two animals here in Cincinnati are part of the mandated recovery program, which means they may be released back in the wild in the future — just like Xoshi.”
The mammals have been credited with sending membership at the 125-year-old zoo to an all-time high, said Cincinnati Zoo spokesman Chad Yelton.
The zoo, which averages 1.3 million visitors a year, now has 58,000 households as registered members.
Manatees also have been overwhelmingly popular at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, which opened its exhibit in late June 1999. Almost 1.3 million people visited the zoo last year — making it the second-best year for the 72-year-old zoo. The only other year the zoo saw more visitors was when it hosted a traveling panda exhibit in 1992, said spokeswoman Patty Peters.
The Columbus Zoo now has three manatees (it released a rehabilitated manatee off the coast of Florida last week) housed in the $10 million Manatee Coast exhibit and aquarium.
The Cincinnati and Columbus zoos were in a friendly race to see which could open the state's first manatee exhibit when both projects hit unexpected and long delays. Despite an accidental fire that destroyed the nearly completed Cincinnati exhibit in May 1998, the Cincinnati aquarium opened first. The opening of the Columbus aquarium was delayed because it sprung a leak.
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