Let's Start By Smashing The Myths.

Many of us, students and teachers alike, have attitudes and reactions towards animals that are based on myth and misinformation. Snakes, for example, often elicit fear in people. A common reaction of a person seeing a snake is to immediately kill it. And yet, not only are most snakes harmless to people, they make important contributions to healthy ecosystems. Wolves, sharks, bats, and spiders are among many other animals that often are killed needlessly as a result of misunderstanding and myth.

Manatees are not exempt from such misunderstandings. One common myth involving manatees is that they are not native to Florida, and like other exotic species, may actually be doing harm to the ecosystem and to native species. This myth lends support to the position that we should not be concerned with their protection. (Just to set the record straight, fossil records of sirenians indicate they have inhabitated Florida waterways for over 45 million years.)

So you see, it is important to help students examine their attitudes and reactions to different animals. They need help in separating attitudes and reactions based on actual experience and information from those based on misinformation and myth, and in looking at contributions made by these animals.

Save the Manatee® Club has put together a publication titled "Manatee Myths and Facts". Have your students write and request a copy.

Considering the 'END RESULT' Of Our Actions.

An important concept for students to consider is the progression of events that may occur as a result of an individual's action. The Problems Page of this educator's guide lists several causes of manatee deaths which are directly related to human contact or encroachment.

Discuss ACTIONS and RESULTS as they relate to manatees.

Here's some ACTION examples to get you started:

• Following posted speed zone signs in manatee areas.
• Driving your boat fast in a manatee area.
• Passive observation of manatees (observing from a distance).
• Touching manatees, feeding them, or giving them water.
• Swimming with manatees.
• Picking up liter on the beach or river bank.
• Building a dock over a seagrass bed.
• Monitoring the opening and closing of flood control structures.
• Throwing monofilament line or plastic into the water.
• Canoeing down a river.
• Storm water runoff from a heavy rain entering a water boyd.

What are some possible RESULTS of these ACTIONS

What About Everyday Activities?

The choices that we, as students and teachers, make from day to day in our routine activities also impact the manatee and our environment. We don't have to be canoeing down the river to have an impact. We can have an impact in our kitchen or from the school we attend, or from the mall or grocery store! In fact, the way we shop has a major impact on the world around us. Spending our money on a product is like endorsing that product. What we buy tells a manufacturer what to make - we're saying to that manufacturer, "Yes, I want you to continue making and packaging this product just as it is." If a product contains toxic chemicals that can contaminate our water, air, or soil, we should stop buying it and choose an alternative - something biodegradable.

Recycling can make the difference! The best way to get your students involved in recycling at home is to show them how it's done: Start a recycling program right at school. Make it their project by putting them in charge. Have them find out what products are made from recycled materials. An made it a big deal. After all, it is!

You Can Also Help By:
Encouraging Your Students To Get Involved Politically

Students need to know that, as individuals, they have a voice in governmental processes. When they make their wants and needs known, they can improve their world. When they choose to be silent, they give their power away to others. No one is too young to get involved! Students can participate at the local level by attending county commission or city council meetings, and by helping their community to plan wisely for future growth and strong wildlife / environmental protection.

Students can also be involved at the state and federal level by writing letters to legislators and asking them to support environmentally sound laws.

And Finally, Don't Forget To Teach Students
MANATEE ETIQUETTE Or ...

How To Behave In Manatee Habitat

Here are a few pointers to pass on ...

1. DO NOT ENTER DESIGNATED OR POSTED SANCTUARIES FOR ANY REASON

2. Abide by posted speed zone signs while in areas known to have manatees present or when observations indicate manatees might be present. Observations may include a swirl at the surface caused by the manatee when diving, seeing the animal's back or snout, or hearing it when it surfaces to breathe.

3. When operating a boat, constantly be on the lookout for signs indicating the presence or habitat of manatees. Signs might include: seagrass beds, a snout, back, tail or flipper breaking the surface; a smooth swirl on the water's surface (created when a manatee below the surface dives deeper); or a human-made sign posted to warn boaters to slow down. If you see any of these, or other signs, drive with extreme caution.

4. While boating, watch for channel markers, and stay in deep water channels. Avoid boating over seagrass beds and shallow areas.

5. Wear polarized sunglasses. They eliminate the glare and enable you to see just below the water's surface.

6. Steer clear of manatee concentrations. Never pass over submerged animals.

7. If you like to water-ski, please choose an area that manatees do not frequent (such as a land-locked lake). The high speeds involved in water-skiing make this water-sport highly dangerous in manatee-sensitive areas.

8. Avoid harassing a manatee. Harassment is defined as any activity which alters the animal's natural behvior.

Please:

• Look, but do not touch manatees. Also, don't feed manatees or give them water. If manatees become accustomed to being around people, it can alter their behavior in the wild, perhaps causing them to lose their natural fear of boats and humans, and making them susceptible to potential harm. SMC supports passive observation as the best way to interact with manatees, and all wildlife.

• If a manatee avoids you, you should avoid it.

• Do not actively pursue or chase a manatee while you are swimming, snorkeling, diving or operating a boat.

• Never poke, prod or stab a manatee with your hands, feet or any other object.

• Do not isolate or single out an individual manatee from its group, and don't separate a cow and her calf.

• Do not attempt to snag, hook, hold, grab, pinch or ride a mantee.

9. Avoid discarding fishing line in the water. It can get tangled in aquatic plants that manatees eat. If manatees ingest this debris they can be injured permanently or even die (intentionally discarding monofilament line or netting into or onto the waters of the state of Florida is also considered a second degree misdemeanor). Throw it away in a garbage container, or better yet, recycle it!

10. Help keep waterways clean by not littering. You might even want to take this one step further by joining a clean-up campaign in your area (contact local civic groups for information).

11. If you see a dead, injured, sick or tagged manatee, or one being harassed, call the Manatee Hotline immediately to make a report. The number is 1-888-404-FWCC(3922), or ask your operator for the local district Florida Marine patrol number.

Activities

• Plan a clean-up in your community, stressing public awareness through posters, media attention, public speakers, etc.

• Start a student-run recycling program.

• Have each class member bring in all plastic trash collected at home in a 24-hour period. Discuss the amount the whole school might collect in one day; the whole city; the state; the nation. Discuss the magnitude of our non-biodegradable solid wastes. Where does it end up? Some marine animals and birds mistake plastic trash for food (such as jellyfish). Others become entangled in plastic trash.

• Start a monofilament recycling program in your community and organize a cleanup of local waterways.

• Technologies for making plastics biodegradable are now being explored and implemented. Research the progress being made in this area. What plastic products currently on the market are now degradable? How long does it take before it degrades? Is it also digestible? As such items degrade, is the environment harmed in any way?

• Some states and local communities are banning certain plastic products. (For example, as of July 1989, unless they degrade within 120 days, six pack holders are banned in Florida.) Research how such laws are implemented.

• Work out a class plastics consumption plan. Each member may commit to quit buying a product made of or packaged in plastic for a week, a month (whatever the class decides). Chart progress and explore alternatives to these products.

• Helium-filled balloons are frequently released into the sky to promote products, celebrate events or call attention to an organization or cause. Like plastic trash, balloons can end up at sea and are mistaken for food by various marine animals. When you hear of a group / business that is planning a balloon release, contact them and inform them that a balloon release can cost marine animals and birds their lives, and that as of November 1990, is against the law. Ask them to consider another attention getter.

• Imagine you are a manatee and you have been asked to make a public speech to Florida residents and visitors. What would you most want these people to know? Prepare your speech and present it to the class.

• Choose a single manatee fact each day (you can use Trichechus Trivia or the Manatee Fact Sheet for this) that can be read over the school's P.A. system for the entire student body to hear.

• When we shop, we often have a choice of having our goods bagged in paper or plastic bags, or we can bring our own reusable cloth or mesh bags. Discuss the choice here. Which is better? Why?