Adopt-A-Manatee®

Squeaky has not been sighted since 2013. We hope no news is good news, and we will continue to look out for her, but her absence means that there may not be any updates in our newsletters or webcam blogs.

On June 13, 2011, a manatee named Amber gave birth to a calf around noon at Blue Spring State Park. This manatee calf was Squeaky, and she has an interesting family history. Squeaky is the “grandcalf” of a young manatee female named Ann, who was first identified at Blue Spring in November 1996. In March 2001, Ann appeared with twin calves who were named Amber and Amanda. This was exciting news as twins are rare for manatees. One week later, however, young Amber was discovered all alone. She was searching the run for her mom and trying to nurse from another female. By the next afternoon, Ann and Amanda had still not appeared, and it was decided that Amber needed to be rescued. Amber was taken to SeaWorld Orlando, where she nursed from a female manatee named Destiny, who was also there for rehabilitation. Ann and Amanda have since returned to Blue Spring, and Amber was released at the park in February 2009 with another female named Rita.

After her release, Amber returned to winter at Blue Spring for the next season, and she was also found to be pregnant. Everyone was pleased with her progress, but in February of 2010, Amber had a stillbirth at the springhead. Amber visited Blue Spring again the following season, but she was not observed to be pregnant. Then, in June 2011—a time when manatees are typically sparse at the park—Amber surprised everyone by giving birth to Squeaky in the Blue Spring run. Because of Amber’s history, park staff watched her closely, and observers thought she might not be nursing normally. However, manatee researchers soon reported that the nursing issue had been solved. After a couple of weeks, Amber took Squeaky in tow and went out into the St. Johns River. Researchers later spotted them in the Dead River, west of DeLand, Florida.

Squeaky has not been seen at Blue Spring since 2013. Her marks are so small they would not call attention to her anywhere else, so it will be hard to identify her at another refuge. Just as some manatees come to Blue Spring in the winter and never go back to their original refuge, so do occasional Blue Spring manatees adopt other refuges. This may have happened to Squeaky.