iStockphoto / Dan Bailey
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office knows that when August rolls around and the waters are steamy hot in Florida, they’re going to get one very specific type of phone call from concerned citizens.
Manatees can be found mating year-round in Florida. But the Clearwater/St. Pete Sheriff’s Office shared a recent viral video as a PSA, alerting concerned citizens that manatees are often found mating in groups during this time of year.
The video itself went viral a year or two ago. Similar footage was shared by the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission in 2022. Each time, people who were just scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and came across this on Reels were gobsmacked by seeing a manatee sex pile out of nowhere…
In the Reels caption, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office wrote:
“If you see this, no you didn’t. We get calls all the time from citizens when they see this, believing the manatees are in distress. We can assure you they are more than fine. Manatees actually mate in herds like these and often they are near the shore.
They mate all throughout the year but generally mating herds like these are seen in the Summer months. So if you see this, there’s no need to call, they are a-okay! And remember touching or disturbing manatees is not only illegal but can also be very dangerous.”
Did they Sheriff’s Office really need to add Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’? Probably not. Is it hilarious that they did? A little bit, yeah.
The comments on Instagram and Facebook are priceless. Someone wrote “You could not have had a straight face when typing this. I know for a fact y’all wanted to say ‘chill folks, mating season for manatees means —y.'”
Another person chimed in with “I accidentally kayaked on top of a mating herd of manatees… the rest of the story is history.” Which brings up a good point. The caption says ‘can also be very dangerous’ and they’re not wrong.
Despite manatees having no known predators and living their best lives, they have extremely powerful tails. If/when disturbed in a herd setting, the force of those tails slapping the water (or a person) could cause some serious damage.
Another commenter wrote “Note to self: if there are a bunch of manatees all huddled together, don’t call the police, it’s just an o–y. Also, how did y’all keep a straight face while typing this? I wouldn’t be able to.”
I’m a multi-generational native Floridian (yes, we exist). And despite growing up on an island where I’d see manatees *at least* once a week, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like this in my lifetime.
So while manatees mating in big piles on the beach is apparently not worthy of calling the police, it does seem pretty rare. Should you ever witness this manatee mating behavior in person, be sure to film it and put it on social media because these videos go viral in an instant.
That manatee saw that kid surfing and was like 'nah, that my surfboard now' and jacked it https://t.co/ds3HIlGWZA
— BroBible (@BroBible) July 15, 2022