It's a little stronger feeling than I thought, seeing him go out,'' said Warmolts, assistant director of living collections at the zoo. I'm just nervous for him. I think it's just the threats that the animals face. A tour boat and a houseboat glided along the St. Johns. Passengers peered into the dark river, watching for the silver shadows of manatees or gazing at double- crested cormorants fighting over a fish.
Boats are the main hazard manatees face.
Those swimming near the warm water of Blue Spring State Park are crisscrossed with pale scars where they have encountered motorboats. Comet's back is smooth, no scars. He entered captivity in November 1997 after a speedboat hit his mother along the coast of northeastern Florida. The young manatee was nursing and not ready to live alone in the wild. His mother eventually died.