Aerial camera captures dolphins hanging out with a huge aggregation of Florida manatees
An aerial camera caught a delightful sight off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida last week, as a small pod of dolphins swam through a huge aggregation of manatees. As the dolphins make their way through the shallow waters, we see around 170 manatees just chilling, as manatees do. Then we get to see the dolphins show off their playfulness, as dolphins do.
The marine mammal mingling is particularly meaningful knowing how the manatee has struggled for survival.
170 Manatees and Some Jumping Dolphins in St Petersburg, FLwww.youtube.com
Florida manatees became protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1973, when their numbers were estimated to be between 800 and 1,000. By 1991, their population was still less than 1,300. But dedicated conservation and rehabilitation efforts in recent decades have increased that number to around 6,300. Manatees in Florida currently make up around half of the world's total manatee population.
The increase in numbers does come with a couple of caveats, however. Manatee populations are notoriously difficult to count accurately, so estimates are just that. The manatee was downgraded from "endangered" to "threatened" in 2017, but some advocates said that designation is misleading because the threats to its survival are still just as much of a problem.
The biggest threats manatees face are collisions with watercraft, habitat loss and degradation, fishing gear entanglement, human harassment, exposure to red tide, and climate change. The loss of the manatee's warm-water habitat is a vital long-term threat to the species, as it can't tolerate cold waters. Traditionally, they rely on natural springs to stay warm during cold weather, but urban and agricultural development has impacted many of Florida's natural artesian springs.
However, as far as conservation and rehabilitation goes, Florida manatees are a success story. Many groups, both within the government and non-profit sectors, work diligently to advocate for the protection of Florida manatees and educate people on how they can help. Seeing this large aggregation of manatees from above is a heartening reminder of how important that work has been.
The footage was captured by See Through Canoe, a company that sells transparent canoes and that shares videos of animal encounters off the Florida coast. They say that dolphins and manatees often swim in the same waters, but rarely interact directly. This summer, they shared a video of a small pod of dolphins actually seeming to play together—a phenomenon they say they've not seen in 30 years of observing these animals.
The Odd Pod. Dolphins and a Manatee Swimming and Playing Togetheryoutu.be
As human activity continues to impact the well-being and survival of creatures like the manatee, we can use videos like this as inspiration and incentive to implement more environmentally responsible habits. Seeing what we're saving by pushing for ecologically sound policies and practices can go a long way toward keeping the momentum going.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.