2012 COURSE DATES: AUGUST 4 – 17, 2012 - Sirenian International

Captive Female Manatee Social Behavior 139
Epcot: The Living Seas
Walt Disney World’s The Living Seas in Epcot housed two female manatees,
Lydia and Mariah. Forty-three non-aggressive contacts (4.871.3 contacts/hr)
occurred between these two manatees. Lydia initiated 20 contacts and Mariah
initiated 23.
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park housed nine female manatees:
Amanda, Ariel, Betsy, Electra, Holly, Lorelei, Oakley, Rosie, and Willoughby.
Thirty-one non-aggressive contacts (3.470.1 contacts/hr) occurred between the
manatees. Eighteen contacts were made between three related individuals (Amanda,
Ariel and Betsy) termed Group one, consisting of a mother and her two adult
daughters. The remaining six manatees made 12 contacts to each other with only one
contact made between the two groups of manatees (Table 1).
Lowry Park Zoo
Lowry Park Zoo housed two female manatees, Cinco and BB, and one
orphaned male calf, Lowry. Eighty-three contacts occurred between these manatees;
nine were aggressive (10.8%, 1.070.67 contacts/hr) and 74 were non-aggressive
(89.2%, 8.270.9 contacts/hr). BB initiated five aggressive contacts to Lowry. Both
Cinco and Lowry made two aggressive contacts (22.2%) toward each other. Lowry
initiated the most non-aggressive contacts (38). BB and Cinco initiated 20 and 16
non-aggressive contacts, respectively. For the adult females, BB initiated contact
with Cinco eight times and Cinco contacted BB nine times.
Sea World
Sea World of Florida housed four adult female manatees: Charlotte, Rita,
Sara, and Stubbie and two orphaned male calves: Brooks and Pistachio. Of the 71
interactions that occurred, 70 (98.6%, 7.871.0 contacts/hr) were non-aggressive and
one (1.4%, 0.170.1 contact/hr) was aggressive. The juvenile males initiated more
contacts than the adult females (52 of 71 or 73%). Brooks made 34 contacts with
most directed toward Charlotte (15) and Sara (13). These were primarily play
mounting contacts with the two females. Pistachio initiated four similar contacts
TABLE 1. Matrix constructed from non-aggressive contacts at Homosassa Springs Wildlife
State Park with nine adult females
Amanda a Rosie Betsy a Ariel a Holly Will Oakley Lorelei Electra Total
Amanda — 0 2 7 0 0 0 1 0 10
Rosie 0 — 0 0 1 1 2 0 3 7
Betsy 3 0 — 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
Ariel 2 0 2 — 0 0 0 0 0 4
Holly 0 0 0 0 — 1 0 0 1 2
Will 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 0 0 1
Oakley 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 0 0 1
Lorelei 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 0 1
Electra 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
a Amanda, Betsy and Ariel are related as mother and two adult daughters.