Cold temps further endanger Florida's manatees Tampa, Florida (CNN) -- The unusually cold weather that struck Florida in January did more than damage crops and citrus trees. It has also caused an unprecedented number of deaths among Florida's beloved residents, the endangered West Indies manatees. Twisting and flopping in the shallow water, Baby Coral probably doesn't realize just how lucky she is. When this 3-year-old female manatee was brought into Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo last month, she was 300 pounds underweight, unable to eat. Her skin was covered with small white, blister-like lesions known as "Florida frostbite," the result of exposure to cold temperatures. Lowry Park Zoo is one of the three facilities in the state that provide medical treatment and a place for manatees to recover from cold stress, as well as other injuries. "It's an exceptionally bad year for the manatee," said Dr. David Murphy, the zoo's veterinarian. So far this year, a record 280 or more manatees have died from cold stress-related illnesses. That's estimated to be 5 percent of the total population in Florida. Add that to last year's record mortality rate of 429 deaths from boat strikes and other causes, and that number may be as high as 10 percent. Marine biologist Andy Garrett says he's never seen anything like this before. The full impact of the cold weather on the manatee population is still unclear, according to Garrett, who works for Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/12/manatee.cold.weather/ The early stages of the coming ice age predicted by scientists and climatologists is starting to take its toll on endangered Florida species - animals and plants - plus hit the citrus industry hard. Killed all our citrus trees as well. Hopefully green house gases can slow down this ice age or central and southern Florida are going to get smashed given this is a semi-tropical zone. If the ice age we are entering as warned of for the last decades hits too hard, it could wipe out many tropical zones, cause mass starvation in crop destruction and force more people to shelter indoors - which tends to lead to a pandemic spread of diseases just like the last ice in Europe was responsible for the nearly genocidal black plague. Nature generally likes WARM, not cold. WARM gives you jungles and rain forests. Too cold and there is total desolation. The desert regions of the world were not caused by heat, but my the earth's mantles colliding forming mountains blocking the flow of rain clouds, ie lack of water, not heat. Diseases like warm, not cold, too. Why hospitals and prisons tend to keep the air temperature low.
Bitter Florida cold contributes to 166 manatee deaths this year... Bitter Florida cold contributes to 166 manatee deaths this year, a record pace March 10, 2018 - Bitter Fla. cold contributes to 166 manatee deaths
Cold air and water was pushed South as the North Pole hit temps above freezing in the middle of winter...with no sun. This is in all likelihood just another manifestation of global warming. And yes, some places will get colder as the average temp of the planet increases.
