'Animal,' Episode 3: Manatees

hey it's Michael today we have something. really special for you a blissful break. from the news it's a new series from nyt. audio called animal my colleague Sam. Anderson from the Times magazine. traveled the world to have encounters. with animals not to claim them or to. tame them but just to appreciate them. each episode is a journey to get closer. to a creature that Sam loves for the.

next 6 weeks we'll be running this. limited series every Sunday here on the. daily feed but if you want to hear all. the episodes right now you can search. for it wherever you get your podcasts. today episode 3 hope you enjoy. it from The New York Times this is. animal I'm Sam. Anderson episode three. [Music].

manatees all right morning good morning. how are you. hey I'm all right how about yourself. good we picked a great day I know come. on what are the rules on that yeah it's. the rain's not an issue that it's the. lightning and I got a.

app on my phone here that's yeah we got. definitely have some lightning but it's. it's their call obviously and but I'm. I'm not comfortable going out if there's. if there's a lot of lightning you you. don't want to be on the water during. during lightning yeah so but so you all. booked a private tour yeah okay um. Kelsey yeah I think Kelsey's going to. join us she just texted me for some. reason I do not fully understand I've. always wanted to get in the water.

with a. manate a manatee is a big. pudgy blubby looking I don't know cross. between a walrus and a. potato sometimes people call them sea. cows cuz they basically just float. around. grazing but they're a lot weirder. looking than. cows they have these funny little. flippers sort of boomerang shaped. flippers up front front that they use to.

navigate around and then this big flat. paddle of a tail like a super Beaver or. something they eat wet vegetables. seagrass mainly almost never. aggressive they kind of float outside. all of these cycles of predators and. prey and doing stuff they just float. there and I sort of want to float. outside.

all of those cycles and just not worry. about deadlines and meetings and. [Music]. whatever it's stressful out. there but not under the water looks like. they're sending people out yeah they'll. they'll be watching the weather okay so. when I think about getting in the water. with a. manity I don't know exactly what I want. to happen.

happen but when I really try to imagine. it I think what I want is for a manity. to look at. me I want to see a manity seeing me I. want to look at a manity and I want the. manity to look back at. me and I just want to have a moment of. connection or whatever it is people said. they were ugly oh yeah now. manatees are a protected species.

and the only place I know of in the. United States where you can legally swim. with manatees is a place in Florida. called Crystal River you too I'd heard. about that place from watching the. classic manity documentary made by jacqu. custo back in the. 1970s and jacqu custo and his whole crew. of French oceanographers with their. little red beanies.

they have a local guide and it's a kid. teenager named Buddy Powell this is you. in your in your element yeah this is my. element here and Buddy Powell is. actually still there in the decade since. he's become maybe the preeminent manity. scientist in the. world and he's the director of a big. Marine Center not far from Crystal River. and he occasionally will still take. people around Crystal River where he.

grew up as he did for jacqu custo what. is this this is liability Assumption of. risk so we arranged a private boat tour. with Buddy Powell me and my colleague. Caitlyn Roberts who is there with the. microphone cover alligators Buddy's PR. prison Kelsey is going to join us too. she's running a little late one more com. okay not here yet no she's close though. all right guys well we're going to go. ahead and get started.

so Caitlyn and I had actually been in. Florida for about a week before this. swimming day crisscrossing the state. talking to various manity experts kind. of getting ready for that moment when I. get in the water and have an encounter. everyone here is for 1015 correct and. once you start as soon as you start. learning about manatees things get. pretty heavy because from a distance. manties make me very happy and I find. them very soothing.

manatees I don't think experience life. that way which we found out very quickly. we have out on the bay we talked to a. guy who works with the save the manatee. club and he paddles around in his canoe. and he recognizes all the. manatees by their Scars by the damage. that they've. taken so manatees are they're huge. animals they float slowly and often. right near the surface and so when a.

speedboat comes ripping. through often it will it will hit a. manate and getting hit by a speedboat is. basically like getting hit by a truck. that has swords all over it so he's seen. manatees sliced up so badly they don't. have tails or hit so hard by a boat that. their ribs are sticking out just the. worst of the worst he also told us some. really freaky stories about alligators. that I'm not going to get into right now. but yeah so you'll need to uh get wet.

suits and snorkeling gear here so just. rent it and then you'll need to. watch watch a video okay um manity. manners manity manners okay okay where. else do we go we went to this Pathology. Lab in Tampa where they actually do. autopsies on every manate that turns up. dead.

in Florida uh to figure out the reasons. why. and they've been. seeing a huge increase in the number of. manaties that are coming in sometimes. it's just days on end you know 8 nine 10. manatees and when they open up the door. the next day it's just that many. manatees again and it's just kind of. non-stop the boat. strikes there's something called red. tide.

uh which is a kind of algae that blooms. in the water under certain conditions. and makes manatees. drown and then lately they've been. seeing something really horrible which. is a kind of new front in this crisis. which is. starvation finding manatees with sand in. their stomachs because they're just. desperately rooting around trying to. find any bits that they can. eat because the water quality has become. so bad that these huge seagrass Meadows.

where manatees have been feeding for. hundreds and thousands of years are. dying off and so they go there to eat. and it's just fields of sand should we. get out on the boat if you got to watch. the the um oh we have to watch Manatee. manners. yeah welcome to the Crystal River. National Wildlife Refuge and the Kings. Bay Manatee Refuge.

you are among I kept asking these. experts like how do you deal with this. emotionally is it. hard do you cry. areas and the following activities or. the attempt to perform any of the. following activities is prohibited. throughout King's Bay chasing or. pursuing aity a lot of them were able to. have a kind of scientific Detachment. they're just really trying to diagnose. what's wrong and help as best they can. Corner oround man um but I remember one.

guy I spoke. with he surprised me a little bit I said. you know do you have hope for the future. of manatees poking proding or stabbing a. manate with anything including your. hands and feet and he said deep in my. heart no standing or stepping on a. manity come on now but he said he's. still deep in his heart no but he still. hopes separating a mother and cat or. separating a man he also said if we.

can't save manatees we can't save. anything because manatees are so. resilient giving a man they have really. tough skin that's hard to cut they have. very fast coagulation in their blood so. their their wounds heal very quickly. which is how they're able to survive so. many of these boat. strikes and so if we can't find a way to. keep Humanity alive then we're not going. to be able to save. anything let's do it.

Visitors by. following and disturbance while. increasing your. opportun oh who Scot I. know to be honest that kind of makes me. hate us for wanting to swim with. manatees well the people that don't. follow the regulations yeah but even us. in our stupid wet suits floating around. in the crowds of people staring at the. man just like shut the whole thing down.

well hopefully people you know will feel. a sense of all and want to protect them. and right yeah guess that's like. the the risk benefit ratio you have to. weigh yeah like how much does this. increase people's awareness and. affection therefore lead to protection. and all that how much does it bother. Humanities and.

mess up the environment yeah exactly. that's why there has to be I mean also a. lot of regulation on the torque guides. too so after we signed all of our forms. and squeezed into our wet suits and. watched this video we stepped outside. and the sky had cleared. miraculously and we got ready to step on. this boat where buddy was going to drive. us around and hopefully make my stupid. manity dream come true why don't we go.

go over to the boat and then we can get. after you so you can go. [Music]. back plunk. these have you driven one of these rep. sir I have okay so you understand that.

stream of water that needs to come out. of the side of that motor at all times. so what to do buddy pow the local guide. if you're ready to go I'll get you un. hook all right thanks thanks a lot gets. us in our boat and we toodle off into. the. water this is where you grew up this is. where I grew up uh I I was actually born. in Clear Water um but my family had a. like a little fishing Cottage up here. and and so we came I wanted know all. about his Jac custo experience and uh.

what that was like were you aware of. jacqu custo at this point in your life. yeah I mean back back in the day when we. only had three channels right you know. you would sort of wait you know whe they. come out like four times a year or twice. a year it was like a big deal to watch. that show so obviously you know very. much a role model to be a kid who loved. nothing more than being in a boat who. had memorized all the creatures that. lived in this habitat that he grew up in.

um to get a call from jacqu custo in the. 1970s when that name was as big as a. name could be kind of like that yeah. especially for a kid like that and so. they kind of adopted me and took me. under their wing and um you must have. felt like a little rock star it was. pretty incredible that's that's for sure. um did you did you wear the little red. hat I I did really I did indeed.

did you ever try smoking a pipe I never. tried smoking a pipe no did you drink. some wonderful French wine um I have. definitely at that age um they were. trying. to cultivate my inner frenchness and yes. I uh drank my fair share of of wine and. it was a wonderful experience cuz I it's. just absolutely fabulous and of course. that just changed my entire life so I'm. going to be keeping an eye out you know.

as we're going along uh for manatees but. um I wanted to tell you a little bit of. about what we're seeing here so this. this whole Crystal River and so yeah. he's steering us all over his childhood. territory and he's of course able to say. you know this used to be like this and. this used to be like that and now. there's a giant mansion here and that's. when they begin now he said the water.

used to be I mean it's called Crystal. River because the water used to be. crystal clear and now it's pretty murky. in most of it the water quality has. really. plummeted and you used to. see none of the of the boat traffic that. we were seeing that. day you would not see groups of tourists. out there looking for manatees it was. just it was just buddy and the manatees. all alone back in those days what are. these little heads that I keep seeing. popping out of the water uh those are.

turtles he's you know I keep seeing. things in the water I you see like a. little something pop up from the water. and I'm like manate but he's like nope. that's a turtle and something would jump. out of the water and just be a fish of. but then at one point he did say there. there it is 11:00 mhm so you can see the. series of. them and one in front of the other so. it's just slowly swimming along.

that's right and we saw this manate off. to the left of the boat so we don't want. to disturb it cuz it's there it's coming. up to surface see the. back there's the back of it so that's a. nice adult. Manatee the tail we saw the see its back. come up and then its tail and it would. leave these what buddy called tail. prints on the water that's so you could. sort of follow where it was going and. and it was really thrilling to see one. so far from just doing its natural thing.

does it still feel special for you to. see a manate oh yeah I um it's it's hard. I to explain it but every time I see a. manity I get I still get excited about. it and I can watch him. forever so back you know back then so. we're we're cruising around he's taking. us down little little side. Coes and as we're cruising around we. keep seeing these guys are probably with.

one those guys over there are probably. with one these other tourist boats and. crowds of people in the water and that. was the fastest way to find a manate. it's kind of like when you're a. Yellowstone the fastest way to find a. bear is to find the the traffic jam of. people looking at the bear on the side. of the road here there were traffic jams. of boats and crowds of tourists who were. floating with pool noodles.

and you know flippers and goggles and. and they're all just kind of hanging. around a manity while it's. eating I don't know I feel almost. inclined not to get in the water with a. big crowd of people staring at one. manity yeah I can understand so we're. kind of keeping our distance because. once I see that it's not it's not what I. imagined for my manity encounter somehow. it does not feel to me like um.

outside of the the Predator prey hustle. and bustle chain the S of oh one. whoa two propeller marks on it two prop. [Music]. marks can you tell what size that one. was it's a small. adult he hanging out at the bottom. feing can you describe what the scene. looks like uh.

well we got 1 2 3 4 5 6. 7. 8 plus boats out here full of people in. wet suits then we've got groups of. people in wet suits with pool noodles. and snorkel sticking up who are in the. water kind of face. down all in a in a tight cluster we. assume staring at one manity we've got. two or three groups of people like.

that. um yeah we've got boats with docked. outside of. houses boats with huge huge powerful. looking. Motors this this boat has two giant. Motors on the back two big Honda Motors. and as you can see he's cir he doesn't. realize that that there's a manity and.

as you can see you can see the bottom. it's not really that super shallow that. [Music]. shallow so he could be doing some damage. well he's going slowly enough that that. man. manate will you know will move out of. the way um but. um if he wasn't going slowly yes. absolutely and not only that is just a. matter of disturbance too these you know. these animals. they become somewhat habituated but.

generally they just you know they want. to be left alone to you know to. feed so this Conant we basically did. this all day we see a manity it would be. surrounded by a crowd and I would say. let's try another one and finally the. day was over I was sunburned we had to. take the boat. back and we went into this little. Lagoon and and there was a manity and.

there was a crowd of people around it I. don't know Kelsey how do you feel do you. want to jump. in I mean I'm hot so yeah yeah yeah me. too I thought about it and decided okay. I guess we should probably just do it we. could do it here yeah yeah since we know. we're here came all this. way I don't want to miss my opportunity. and regret it later so I guess I'll just. just kind of quiet back in here be one. of the crowd and get in there what do.

you think let's try it these guys are. kind of harassing him a little bit and. uh and sometimes buddy would point out. like H they're kind of harassing that. manate you're really not supposed to be. that close or you're not supposed to be. swimming after it you just stay still. and let it do what it wants and you. don't follow it you don't interact you. just look very slowly start told me to. just float like a log when I get in. there and just try to stay at least. he me but I'm like where' it go A manity.

or two. length away from it okay what if it. approaches then you just stay still. um and let it do it's its thing and like. I said just pretend to be another object. in the water okay. all right so Sam I'm probably going to.

stay up here maybe you can um you can. kind of tell me what you're doing as. you're doing it as you're getting in the. water all right well I'm going to put. this snorkel. on and. uh take my shoes off okay so there's two. right here just feeding and uh so what. you don't want to do is disturb them in. any way. and just be as quiet as you possibly can.

keep a keep an eye on keep an eye on me. CU I can obviously that's the reasons I. don't get in the water is I can spot and. see further away and so I'll sort of. give you directions I don't like to yell. out over the water okay but just. occasionally just lift your head up and. take a look at me keep an eye out for. alligators I'll tell you if one comes. fun came out for us appreciate that yeah. [Music].

so that one still over. there so I you know I was I was in my. wet suit already I put on my flippers. and my goggles and my.

snorkel and got in the. water so 72 degrees doesn't feel that. warm it's kind of chilly. water so I get in and the water is is. very murky there's a lot 11:00 Straight. Ahead 12:00 11:00 there's there's a lot. of plants a lot of seagrass and so it's. just like MC and seagrass and I can't. really see where I'm going.

but I know the general direction the. manatee is in and Buddy is kind of. shouting out you know it's at 11:00 and. he's guiding me across the. water so I'm kind of just swimming with. a face full of murky seagrass and I. can't see where I'm going and I'm not. sure if I'm going. anywhere and then all of a sudden it was. such a shock all of a sudden. I come shooting out of the Merc and I'm.

just I'm like on top of the manate. practically I did not see it coming by. the time I saw it I was there and it's. it's eating facing away from me and so I. come to a stop basically. right next to its gigantic. tail which I know from my manate. research is so strong and potentially. dangerous and so I was instantly kind of.

panicked but I also knew that rule. number one of being near a manate is. that you can't panic and thrash around. because you'll scare the manate and then. it will potentially thrash and so I had. to sort of work as hard as I could to. stop my. momentum as quickly but as gently as I. could until until my momentum stopped.

just like inches from the manate. tail and I was able to kind of scooch. backwards very slowly until I was a few. feet away Sam is about a manate away. from the. manatee one manate length away and then. I just watched I just stared because. this thing. was so. otherworldly almost like Ghostly pale. kind of gray.

color almost like glowing in the light. and it's just peacefully eating grass. and all these other people are around me. but we're not noticing each other at all. cuz we're all just. so in awe of this manate. really. and I don't know how long I floated. there but for a pretty long time. and then I decided all.

right I saw a. manate didn't turn around and look at me. which I mean why would. it but that was. okay so very gently I turned and. I swam through the Merc back to the boat. and just as I was starting to tell. everybody. what I had seen one of the one of the.

little crowd watching the manate eat. shouted it's turning it's coming your. way really and I turned and the. manatee had turned around and was. swimming directly toward our. boat oh my. gosh feeding along the bottom there I. get back or no up to you be very very.

quiet and so I just gently let go of the. ladder and dropped back under the water. to see what it was going to. do and the manatee came right over to me. and started grazing the. seagrass right next to our boat kind of. down below my. flippers and so I just floated there. suspended watching it.

and then after a few. seconds the most magical thing happened. which is the manate stopped. eating and it tilted its body up. vertical and it floated up toward the. surface and it. paused and it looked at. me like it really. looked me in the eyes and I was looking.

at the manity and the manity was looking. at. me and I always fantasized about this. moment and all the many feelings that. would pass between us and we just kind. of beam warm feelings back and forth to. each. other I felt in the man's gaze I felt. nothing there was no magical Soul. connection. and that was that was good and normal.

and the fantasy I had was. abnormal and I should probably talk to. my therapist Susan about. it on Friday at 1: [Music]. p.m. and so it kept drifting up and it. took a. breath and then it went back down with. bubbles coming out and. it tilted itself back to horizontal and.

it started just swimming past me and. under the. boat and this thing was so huge it took. forever it felt like it felt like it was. swimming in slow motion I just watched. its whole pale glowing body kind of pass. right in front of my. face peacefully. gracefully and it's huge tail came by. last. and then it was.

gone under right under the boat and I. went back up to the surface this one. here was so close speeding right there. came up surface right in front of me to. [Music]. breathe looked at. me which that was my goal I wanted to be. looked at by a manity look deep into. your soul no she didn't yeah. and I really was so jazzed I really was.

it was it was it was very. profound it just looked at. me how are you feeling right now I feel. good feel happy horrible yeah I feel. like weirdly fulfilled like a life. mission has been fulfilled what was it. like it was I don't know sweet the. people were sweet wonder where that. manity is now. harass I bet it's right near the same.

spot eating eating. grass taking a. nap. farting sending bubbles up to the. surface big jowls shaking while it chews. it's lettuce it's grass. [Music].

this episode was produced by Caitlyn. Roberts and Lissa Anderson with help. from Crystal duim it was reported by me. Sam Anderson and edited by Wendy door. and Lissa Anderson it was engineered by. Marian Lozano our executive producer is. Paula Schuman original music by Marian. Lozano and Pat. mccusker factchecking by Anna.

Alvarado special thanks to Jake. Silverstein Sasha Weiss and Sam. dlck also to all the manate experts we. met Wayne Hartley Martina ditt Andy. Garrett Wanda Jones and Tom Pitchford. and to Craig Pitman who wrote the book. manity Insanity which was a great. resource you can listen to all of our. episodes where wherever you get podcasts. or visit our website at NY.

times.com. animal I'm Sam Anderson thanks for. listening. [Music].