Dolphin Swimming

Baby Manatee Birthday Celebration at Dolphin Discovery

// October 4th, 2011 // View Comments // Uncategorized

Dolphin Discovery Puerto Aventuras is thrilled to be celebrating another milestone, the first birthday of our precious baby manatee Edgarin! The matriarch of our manatee family is Julieta and she has been a great mama, showing little Edgarin the ways of the lagoon and raising him to be a big healthy boy. Edgarin is Julieta’s third baby, a nod to the success of the Dolphin Discovery reproduction program. Manatees are considered to be under threat of extinction and the Dolphin Discovery team of veterinarians and biologists are devoted to the protection and conservation of the species. Congratulations team and Happy Birthday Edgarin!

Join us in the Riviera Maya on October 5th, 2011 at 11 am for a little lettuce birthday cake and the singing of “Las Mañanitas” (the traditional birthday song in Mexico) to Edgarin. If you can’t make the party, you can still make friends with Edgarin in our Sea Life Discovery Plus program where you’ll swim with dolphins, sea lions and of course, the manatees.

Baby Manatee Born at Dolphin Discovery Riviera Maya

// September 13th, 2010 // View Comments // Locations, Riviera Maya, Sea Life

Baby Manatee Born September 9, 2010 at Dolphin Discovery

Dolphin Discovery is pleased to announce the newest addition to our Riviera Maya family, a beautiful bouncing baby boy manatee!  On Thursday September 9th at 1:00 pm, Julieta gave birth to a male measuring 1.2 meters long, the third calf born to our lovely matriarch.  Immediately after giving birth, Julieta helped the little one to reach the surface to take his first breath and introduced herself as “mom” with physical, visual and auditory contact with the calf.  He is feeding well and adjusting to his new life in Puerto Aventuras.  Julieta is a great mama, keeping a close eye on her newborn, with her experience as a mother we are sure that this lovely new creature will continue to grow and thrive.

Baby Manatee with Mom Julieta at Dolphin Discovery

The reproductive rate of manatees is generally very low.  Females do not reach sexual maturity until the age of 5, males at the age of 9.  Gestation lasts for one year and calves nurse from their moms for about a year and will be reliant on them for up to two years.  Females give birth to one pup at a time and may wait 2-5 years before reproducing again.  Male manatees do not get involved in raising their young, it is the sole responsibility of the mothers.

This is an exciting event for Dolphin Discovery, another success in our breeding program and it’s extra special as manatees are an endangered species.  This new baby gives us an opportunity to continue to learn and gather information and allows our team to explore alternatives and solutions to the problems facing manatees in the wild.  We would like to offer our congratulations not only to Julieta, but to our dedicated team of veterinarians, biologists and trainers.  Welcome to the world little boy!

Happy Birthday to Robert the Baby Manatee!

// June 3rd, 2010 // View Comments // Locations, News, Riviera Maya, Sea Life

May 30th, 2009, Dolphin Discovery received a call from Ecosur to come to the assistance of a baby manatee discovered alone in a river in the state of Yucatan.  He was only one or two days old and had been abandoned by his mother, without help there was no way he was going to survive.  A team of veterinarians and marine biologists from Dolphin Discovery hurried to rescue this sweet creature and brought him to the facilities in Puerto Aventuras in a critical state.  He was dubbed “Tuuch”, the Mayan word for “belly button” as his umbilical cord was still attached.

Tuuch was introduced to Julieta in Puerto Aventuras, a mature female manatee who was still nursing her one year old baby.  Despite efforts to get Tuuch to nurse, Julieta could not produce enough milk and the team had to resort to bottle feeding the baby manatee to provide him the nutrients he so desperately needed.  Over the next few months, the veterinary team monitored Tuuch, treating digestive issues and continuing with the bottle feeding.  Despite his failure to grow over the first two months, the team did not give up, they gave him the highest levels of medical care, nutrition, stimulation and love, working with him 24 hours a day.  He learned to socialize with the other manatees who accepted him into their little family and he learned how to play, he loves his toys!  By September, he began eating lettuce and vegetables and a whole new world opened to this beautiful little guy.  In January of 2010, he was able to permanently join the other manatees in their lagoon in Puerto Aventuras and he continued to improve and thrive.  In February he was renamed “Robert” after head veterinarian Dr. Roberto Sanchez.

In November the Dolphin Discovery “Team Tuuch” was honoured by IMATA, receiving awards and recognition for their team work and conservation efforts with their rescued manatee.  All of us at Dolphin Discovery are proud of the team, we are grateful for their expertise and tireless dedication in the rehabilitation of Robert.

One year later and Robert is doing great!  He’s participating in encounters with our guests, eating well and continuing to grow.  This week Dolphin Discovery threw a little party for Robert, bringing him a cake of lettuce and fruit, singing “Happy Birthday” and inviting local school children to join in the festivities.  Local artist Allan Vazquez created a beautiful portrait of Robert and invited the children to add their handprints for posterity.  We wish Robert a very happy birthday and many, many more!

Join us in Puerto Aventuras for our Sea Life Circle Manatee program and you can get a kiss from our dear Robert!  Enjoy some time swimming with him, giving him a hug and share a little lettuce with him.  He will welcome you with open flippers!

Please take a moment to enjoy this video dedicated to Tuuch/Robert, it’s a moving journey of love, dedication and hope….

Baby manatee has been rescued and was transferred to Dolphin Discovery location

// June 4th, 2009 // View Comments // Locations, News, Riviera Maya

Last Thursday May 28th a baby manatee was found stranded at the Chabihaú marsh of Yucatan. The governor of the area was amazed by this unprecedented fact and called Profepa (Environmental Protection Ministry, as in Spanish) authorities to act immediately and save the creature from dying of starvation.

To examine baby manatee, Doctor Roberto Sánchez Okrucky was contacted immediately. He is Dolphin Discovery Veterinarians Manager, with 20 years of experience handling manatees and other marine mammals. Is well known that Dolphin Discovery is the world leader on handling and protecting these species, and besides having a wide experience on this kind of situations, we must remember that they saved and trained Daniel, the manatee.

Dr. Sánchez nursed baby manatee and he stated that the calf is perfectly healthy being a male of 1 meter long, 10 kg weight and 72 days old at the moment of the rescue.

The experts’ arrival was well seen by authorities, entrusting baby manatee’s custody and protection to Dolphin Discovery. Furthermore, the calf was transferred to the location of the company at Puerto Aventuras, Riviera Maya, where a family of 5 manatees welcomed him and one of the females adopted him as her very own.

All About Manatees

// April 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Cancun / Isla Mujeres, Riviera Maya, Sea Life

Feed manatees at Puerto Aventuras, México

Manatees are part of Sirenia (meaning “mermaid”) family formed by these marine mammals that are mainly identified for being vegetarians with a diet of 60 different types of plants as waterweed and mangle leafs. The word “manatee”, of Latin origins means “with breasts”, that comes from the action of breastfeeding their calves.

There are three main types of manatees: the West Indian Manatee that lives in the shallow waters of rivers and coasts of the Caribbean Sea and Mexican Golf, the Amazonian Manatee that lives in the Amazon, and finally the West African Manatee that lives in the coastal waters of America and Africa.

They are 3 to 4.5 meters long, and 300-500 kg. They have a trowel shaped tail (different from dugongs), two pectoral fins with nails, a big body, a gray-brownish skin; they breath through nostrils as the seals, and have some funny whiskers on their snout.

Females can have one calf every 2 or 5 years, which weights about 35 kg. and is 90-120 cm long. Mothers breastfeed their babies at least for 2 years until they are strong enough to grind and find their own food. 4-year old manatees are considered adults and they live up to 80 years.

Swim with Manatees!

You can enjoy this amazing activity in the Sea Life Discovery Plus Program in Dolphin Discovery Cancún-Isla Mujeres and Dolphin Discovery Riviera Maya