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A manatee floating underwater with a school of fish below it. USFWS photo.

Manatees are some of the most unusual looking wildlife creatures that you’ll find in coastal units of the National Park System, places like Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park and Cumberland Island National Seashore

They are huge – the largest on record reportedly tipped the scales at 3500 pounds and was 13 feet long – and rather bulbous looking. 

But manatees are also an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. There are many threats to manatees along the Southeastern coastline of the United States, from power boaters to shrinking shorelines, and even climate change impacts.

To learn more about these interesting mammals and the struggles they face to build their populations, we’re joined today by Tiare Fridlich, a manatee biologist with the Save the Manatee Club

0:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
0:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
0:54 Beyond the Reef - Tim Heintz & Grant Geissman - Seascapes: A Musical Journey
1:11 Friends of Acadia
1:38 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
2:00 Smokies Life
2:22 NPT Promo
2:38 Episode 286 - Save the Manatee
43:40 Torch - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Everglades
44:08 Episode Closing
44:29 Orange Tree Productions
45:01 Splitbeard Productions
45:12 National Parks Traveler footer

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 301 | Red-Cockaded Woodpecker--A Decision Too Soon?

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