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Endangered Animals of Florida Series: West Indian LbNA #51229

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 29, 2009
Location:
City:Cape Canaveral
County:Brevard
State:Florida
Boxes:1
Planted by:Moo Poo
Found by: Janila
Last found:Nov 30, 2014
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Nov 28, 2015
ENDANGERED ANIMALS OF FLORIDA SERIES: WEST INDIAN MANATEE Letterbox

Created by: Moo Poo
Placed by: Moo Poo
Difficulty: Easy
Stamp: Hand-carved
Note: The park can be busy. So please be discreet! It might be best for you to go during school hours or earlier in the morning!

West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus)
West Indian manatees are large, gray aquatic mammals with bodies that taper to a flat, paddle-shaped tail. They have two forelimbs, called flippers, with three to four nails. Their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the snout. The manatee's closest land relatives are the elephant and the hyrax, a small, gopher-sized mammal. Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals and coastal areas. Manatees are a migratory species. Within the United States, West Indian manatees are concentrated in Florida in the winter, but they can be found in summer months as far west as Texas and as far north as Virginia. However, these sightings are rare. Summer sightings in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are common.
West Indian manatees have no natural enemies, and it is believed they can live 60 years or more. Many manatee mortalities are human-related. Most human-related manatee mortalities occur from collisions with watercraft. Other causes of human-related manatee mortalities include being crushed and/or drowned in canal locks and flood control structures; ingestion of fish hooks, litter and monofilament line; and entanglement in crab trap lines. Ultimately, however, loss of habitat is the most serious threat facing manatees today. There are approximately 3,000 West Indian manatees left in the United States.

Directions:
Manatee Sanctuary Park, 701 Thurm Blvd, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920
From A1A/ N Atlantic Blvd/ Astronaut Blvd, turn onto W Central Blvd.
From Central Blvd, turn Left onto Thurm Blvd.
Manatee Park is almost immediately on your right.

Clues:
1) From the parking area, walk on the sidewalk towards the bathrooms.
2) Turn right on the gravel path towards the boardwalk.
3) Pass the bench on the right (and pass the path that goes off to the right just in front of the bench).
4) At the T in the gravel path, take a left and go up the stairs onto the boardwalk.
5) Go right up to the rail at the water’s edge and look out into the water. You may see a manatee (especially during summer months)!
6) Turn right and walk past the two benches out onto the boardwalk. Walk all the way to the covered pavilion area at the end.
7) Go down the stairs and stop after stepping off the last step.
8) Turn right and count 18 steps across the grass (with the boardwalk on your right and the parking lot on your left).
9) You should end up with a small oak on your right and a palm tree on your left.
10) Go to the backside of the palm tree and under palm bark is a black duct-taped Ziploc.
11)Please be sure to seal all bags completely. Be sure to put the baggie for the logbook and the baggie for the stamp in a 2nd bag, and then place back into the duct-taped bag.
12) Please hide better than how you found it.
13) Please log your find in to either AtlasQuest.com or Letterboxing.org