The 3-year-old manatee became the newest resident of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, but only after bucking like a bronco for the two-hour flight from Orlando, Fla., to Cincinnati aboard a DHL Express cargo jet.

Manatee Springs at the Cincinnati Zoo is the new home for Rodeo, a manatee previously housed at Sea World in Orlanda, Florida. (Enquirer photo/MICHAEL E. KEATING)

He arrived about 1 a.m. and was given a brief exam before being taken by truck to the zoo and loaded by crane into the 20,000-gallon medical tank for a full physical. Rodeo was then allowed to enter the 150,000-gallon display tank at the Manatee Springs exhibit.

"He's gentle in water, but take him out and he flails around quite a bit," said Winston Card, the conservation program manager at the zoo.

Transporting a manatee - even a small one like the 480-pound Rodeo - nearly 1,000 miles is a tricky venture, and one that the zoo has had experience with since it flew the manatee Douglas to Miami last winter so he could be released back into the wild.

Rodeo was lifted by crane out of his holding tank at SeaWorld and placed into a padded crate. The animal was covered in blankets to keep him warm, and occasionally sprayed during the trip with water to keep his skin moist. Zoo officials stayed with the manatee for the entire trip.

"That was different," Card said. "There's not a lot of ventilation inside cargo planes, and manatees have a unique odor to them. I was a little green when I got off plane."

So was Rodeo, but not because of the smell.

Rodeo was kept in an outdoor tank at Sea World, and algae grew all over his back. That made him pretty popular when he met his new tank-mate, the zoo's resident manatee named Stoneman, who upon meeting Rodeo began grazing on the algae on his back.

Terri Roth, director of the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, said having two manatees in the exhibits is important for the sociable animals, and for the public to see how they behave with each other in the wild. Card said the addition of Rodeo will be particularly educational for the people of Greater Cincinnati.

"Stoneman doesn't have any scars because he was born in captivity, and that gives people the wrong impression," Card said. "You rarely see an animal in the wild without scars (from boat propellers). So when people see Rodeo with a missing flipper, that will tell them more of a true life story about what manatees experience because of people."

Rodeo was rescued off Merritt Island, Fla., about three months ago after becoming entangled in a crab trap and fishing line. He will be taken back to Florida in about a year for release into the wild.

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