Adopt-A-Manatee®

Ester is part of one of the longest genealogies at Blue Spring State Park

Ester’s grandmother, Emma, was one of the “original” manatees wintering at Blue Spring and part of Jacques Cousteau’s famous documentary “The Forgotten Mermaids.” Emma was part of the Save the Manatee Club adoption program for a long time, as was her daughter, Elaine, who has not been seen at Blue Spring since 2013. Ester is Elaine’s first calf, born in 1990. When the two first came in on November 22, 1990, Ester was recorded as an unknown as she was so big. It was not until we saw her constantly with Elaine and repeatedly nursing that we decided she was a calf. Now Ester is a very prolific mother herself and has had 11 known calves. Ester is also a great-grandmother; her daughter Echo was born in 2001 and had a calf named Ean in 2019, who had her first calf in 2023!

As with most other manatees, Ester can be identified by scars from boat strikes. She has a very distinguishable set of white scars just below her left shoulder. This area is also chronically swollen, most likely from a broken rib bone that healed and remodeled. She also has a white scar on her upper right shoulder near her head. She likes to hang out in the entire spring run and is oftentimes found resting with other big females on the north bank of the run, where it is the sunniest.

During manatee season, check our Blue Spring webcams for updates on the latest news on Ester and other Blue Spring manatees.