Fat Manatees Remind Me of What’s Important In Life
Nature offers the lessons we forget to learn ourselves.
One of the most unusual and remarkable viewing experiences in all of nature is here in Florida. You won’t find it at a zoo. You won’t find it in a nature preserve.
You’ll find it — of all places —at a power plant.
There is a channel of water by each plant. It’s about the size of three football fields.
It is long and narrow.
If you look across this channel, you’ll see aquatic life bustling with activity: weaving sharks fins, dolphins, fish darting and jumping out of the water with joy.
Stacks of stingrays playing with each other.
And manatees. Lots. And Lots. Of manatees.
When it gets cold in January, they all converge here.
Electric facilities boil water to produce steam which generates electricity. A warm offshoot of water pours out into the bay, raising the temperature of nearby water by several degrees.
