The internet was dependable for a moment, and I was excited to do a few extra posts, but now we've gotten behind yet again due to lots of rain coming through during the last week. I've combined a few posts to compensate. It is mostly beautiful sunshine here, but as the saying goes - when it rains, it pours!

The experience here is much like a roller coaster. We work hard, play hard, and once in a while we are extremely surprised when the basic routine is suddenly interrupted. These surprises can be very good, but sometimes they can be bad, too.

One of these surprises hit us hard the other day. I had the amazing opportunity to join Khaleesi in the natural lagoon pool for an exercise swim, and it was one of the most wonderful moments I've ever experienced. Later in the day, I was asked to join her again after it was discovered that she had a little stomach ache. Moving the manatees around the pool can stimulate their system to work more quickly and efficiently, and it can also help the manatee think about something more positive. After swimming a few laps with her, it was confirmed that the poor calf definitely had an upset stomach after a lot of loose, foul smelling stool. Even after her exercise, it started to get worse and a group of us were assigned to rotating 30 minute observation shifts. To start, we did a hour and a half of behavior-by-the-second as a team, and then did 1-2 of us at a time to watch for any changes. It was extremely intense and we were all very worried. Although the concern was only minimal at this stage, none of us enjoyed seeing the little manatee baby so unhappy and uncomfortable. Todd, Julie (an amazing volunteer from Germany), and I helped the directors observe Khaleesi until late into the night, and consensus that she was starting to feel better became apparent around 3:00-4:00 am the next morning. Not the kind of excitement we want here at Wildtracks!

We were happy the next day when it was obvious that she was feeling better, and had started feeding again. This happened about a week ago now, and she is still doing well. The weather has gotten colder and we've been carefully watching the water temperatures to be sure it doesn't drop too low for little Khaleesi, Rameses, and Duke. There is a heating element in the smaller manatee pools, and the larger manatee pool that houses Duke has a wood-burning stove attached that can pump heat into his water. This is extremely useful, but it is not a fast process. Luckily, the temperatures haven't dropped too low - yet. As the season brings in some cooler weather, we may get to know this procedure much better! There is already some firewood set aside for such a circumstance, staying dry under a tarp. We'll be ready!

I've recently starting reading a manatee book here at Wildtracks that was written by Roger L. Reep and Robert K. Bonde. I really want to learn as much as I can about manatees and learning some background about their biology and conservation seemed like a brilliant idea. The book, called "The Florida Manatee - Biology and Conservation", has been a very interesting and informative read. It helps me make sense of a lot of behavior exhibited by the manatees here at Wildtracks. To learn more, I read through some of the older logs that volunteers in the past and present have contributed to for Duke, Rameses, and Twiggy. Twiggy is a female manatee that has been successfully released from the Wildtracks Rehabilitation Program. She is doing really well, and Todd and I are inspired to think that one day the manatees currently rehabilitating here will also be completely healthy and free.

Rameses is on his way to achieving this goal even sooner that anticipated. His condition was very serious, as air was leaking from his lung into his chest cavity. This made it hard for him to do simple things, such as dive under the surface of the water for any length of time, if at all, and steady himself without bending his tail and bobbing back and forth. Now, he is doing what we've been calling "whale dives", where his tail elegantly drops beneath the surface. We've even seen him stay under for several minutes at a time. Now that he is eating and diving so well in the natural lagoon, our next goal is to get more weight on him. This has led to our director, Paul, increasing the ingredients in his bottle-fed formula, and the size and amount of his sea grass and water hyacinths. He seems so happy to get his milk, and has even gotten pushy for more!

Duke also had some great news recently, when we were able to ween him back from his tube feedings for a few days. He has been eating well on his own recently, and this means we don't have to tube feed as often. The only problem with this is keeping weight on him. Because he is still unable to eat the proper amount of food to maintain and/or gain weight, we still have to watch very closely. As soon as his appetite dwindles, we are quick to return to his tube feeding. It still very exciting that he has done this well though - it is a huge step in the right direction!

Todd and I are so happy to be at Wildtracks, we have gotten attached to the animals and the people we work with even more than we ever anticipated. We'll post more soon, thank you again for reading! (:3)