Related video: Manatees staying warm at TECO power plant
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’s been quite the year for manatees, as temperatures in Florida have stayed on the cooler side, leaving them to huddle for warmth. On Monday, Tampa Electric announced its manatee viewing center set an “amazing new record” of manatee sightings at one time.
TECO said the center hosted 1,100 manatees at once, smashing the previous record of 850, which was set last winter.
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“This season has been consistently chilly, which has allowed us to see more manatees at one time than ever before,” Stan Kroh, manager of Land and Stewardship Programs for Tampa Electric, said in a statement. “This makes for an even better experience for our visitors. We’re proud to be such a coveted destination – and a showcase for Tampa Electric’s commitment to environmental stewardship.”
Since the early 1970s, the gentle giants have gathered in the canal, huddling at TECO to generate warmth when the water temperatures in Tampa Bay are 68 degrees or colder. The mammals gather in the clean, warm water discharge canal at Tampa Electrics’ Big Bend Power Station, sometimes by the hundreds — and this year, repeatedly over a thousand.