{"id":2326,"date":"2022-10-18T16:26:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T20:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/?p=2326"},"modified":"2024-02-09T16:33:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:33:17","slug":"calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following story ran in the fall 2022 Mote Magazine, a special publication distributed to Mote’s members and donors twice a year.<\/p>\n

\n

In the shallow salt water of the Gulf of Mexico swims a female manatee and her calf, tooling around and grazing on seagrass. The manatee calls to her calf, but what is she trying to say?<\/p>\n

Dr. Beth Brady, a Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow, strives to answer that question. She and Mote Marine Laboratory\u2019s\u00a0Manatee Research Program<\/a>\u00a0study the behavioral ecology, distribution, habitat, genetics, and population status of Florida manatees while providing insights to advance manatee conservation and research. Brady believes that understanding how manatees communicate reveals what is important to them and how humans may affect them.<\/p>\n

One significant form of communication for manatees and other mammals is acoustic\u2014using sound. Florida manatees produce five broadly-defined call types and have a strong sense of hearing, so researchers are curious to know how much they rely on sounds.<\/p>\n

After 13 years of studying manatees, Brady continues to focus her research on their acoustic communication and how human activity may influence it, while also studying their vocal anatomy.<\/p>\n

Brady conducts \u201cplayback experiments,\u201d playing recordings of specific sounds that are tonal or atonal (with or without a definite pitch) for manatees underwater to monitor their response, in an effort to determine what is important to them. She works with\u00a0Hugh and Buffett, Mote Aquarium\u2019s resident Florida manatees<\/a>, and compares results to those from her studies with Antillean manatees in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we played a sound, the Antillean manatees were curious. They would stop, turn around, and go towards the speaker,\u201d Brady said. \u201cThey were more inquisitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here in Florida, Brady noticed a difference in results.<\/p>\n

\u201cHugh and Buffett don\u2019t make any kind of behavioral changes that we can visibly see,” she said. “They continue what they\u2019ve been doing, but what we\u2019re finding is they\u2019re increasing their own number of vocalizations, which is fascinating.”<\/p>\n

Mote scientists don\u2019t know if Antillean manatees generally respond differently to sounds than Florida manatees, or if the differences in this experiment have more to do with the individual animals or their environment. Continued research is needed to better understand what these results mean.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs resident animals at Mote, Hugh and Buffett provide a baseline that we can use to help us understand communication in their wild counterparts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brady noted wild manatee sounds are often based on their behavior, too. The structure of their call may be more flat or tonal if they are resting and feeding, while their call may be more varied in pitch when their excitement increases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese studies give us an idea of how important communication is to manatees,\u201d said Brady. \u201cWe have many anthropogenic, or human, impacts such as boat noise that may make it difficult for manatees to hear one another. To support manatee conservation, it would be valuable to know how boat engine noise affects their ability to communicate.\u201d It is critical to understand how manatees rely on sounds and how human-induced noise may impact their communication in order to conserve their populations.<\/p>\n

\n

Q & A with Dr. Beth Brady<\/h3>\n

What is a manatee\u2019s intelligence level?<\/strong>
\nTheir cognitive capabilities have not been heavily investigated, but I think they have excellent memory. They have to remember where their warm water refuges are. We will be looking into vocal learning, similar to research on elephants, their most closely related species on land, which have the ability to mimic and imitate human sounds. So, what about a manatee? Can you train a manatee to voluntarily vocalize when asked and then train it to imitate something? Do they have the cognitive capabilities to do that? We don\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n

What are a manatee’a strongest and weakest senses?<\/strong>
\nA manatee\u2019s strongest senses are their hearing and their tactile senses. Their weakest sense is their vision.<\/p>\n

Can manatees be right or left flippered?<\/strong>
\nIt looks like sometimes Hugh will use one flipper more when he turns to make circles, so possibly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following story ran in the fall 2022 Mote Magazine, a special publication distributed to Mote’s members and donors twice a year. In the shallow salt water of the Gulf …<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1,19],"tags":[268,111,110,266,271,270,272,273,265,267,269],"class_list":["post-2326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquarium","category-mote-news","category-research","tag-dr-beth-brady","tag-florida-manatee","tag-manatee","tag-manatee-acoustics","tag-manatee-behavior","tag-manatee-communications","tag-manatee-research","tag-manatee-science","tag-manatee-sounds","tag-manatee-vocalization","tag-mote-postdoctoral-research-fellow"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mote scientists are investigating what kinds of sounds manatees can make and what they might mean. Excerpt from fall 2022 Mote Magazine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mote scientists are investigating what kinds of sounds manatees can make and what they might mean. Excerpt from fall 2022 Mote Magazine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-18T20:26:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-09T21:33:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1401\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Olivia Cameron\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Olivia Cameron\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Olivia Cameron\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/person\/eaafc906e22d5190c4190107520332e1\"},\"headline\":\"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-18T20:26:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T21:33:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\"},\"wordCount\":685,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Dr. Beth Brady\",\"Florida manatee\",\"manatee\",\"manatee acoustics\",\"manatee behavior\",\"manatee communications\",\"manatee research\",\"manatee science\",\"manatee sounds\",\"manatee vocalization\",\"Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Aquarium\",\"Mote News\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\",\"name\":\"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-18T20:26:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T21:33:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mote scientists are investigating what kinds of sounds manatees can make and what they might mean. Excerpt from fall 2022 Mote Magazine.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg\",\"width\":2100,\"height\":1401,\"caption\":\"2022 photo of two resident manatees in Mote Aquarium\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/\",\"name\":\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\",\"description\":\"Today's Research for Tomorrow's Oceans\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-mote-marine-laboratory-aquarium.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-mote-marine-laboratory-aquarium.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/person\/eaafc906e22d5190c4190107520332e1\",\"name\":\"Olivia Cameron\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/author\/ocameron\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","description":"Mote scientists are investigating what kinds of sounds manatees can make and what they might mean. Excerpt from fall 2022 Mote Magazine.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","og_description":"Mote scientists are investigating what kinds of sounds manatees can make and what they might mean. Excerpt from fall 2022 Mote Magazine.","og_url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/","og_site_name":"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","article_published_time":"2022-10-18T20:26:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-09T21:33:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2100,"height":1401,"url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Olivia Cameron","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Olivia Cameron","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/"},"author":{"name":"Olivia Cameron","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/person\/eaafc906e22d5190c4190107520332e1"},"headline":"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine","datePublished":"2022-10-18T20:26:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-09T21:33:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/"},"wordCount":685,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg","keywords":["Dr. Beth Brady","Florida manatee","manatee","manatee acoustics","manatee behavior","manatee communications","manatee research","manatee science","manatee sounds","manatee vocalization","Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow"],"articleSection":["Aquarium","Mote News","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/","url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/","name":"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-10-18T20:26:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-09T21:33:17+00:00","description":"Mote scientists are investigating what kinds of sounds manatees can make and what they might mean. Excerpt from fall 2022 Mote Magazine.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2022-6_MotesResidentManatees__Hugh_and_Buffett_photo_for_website\u2014June_2022\u2014manatee_communication_story.jpeg","width":2100,"height":1401,"caption":"2022 photo of two resident manatees in Mote Aquarium"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/calling-out-experimenting-with-manatee-communication-fall-2022-mote-magazine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mote.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Calling Out: Experimenting with Manatee Communication \u2014 Fall 2022 Mote Magazine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/","name":"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","description":"Today's Research for Tomorrow's Oceans","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mote.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization","name":"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-mote-marine-laboratory-aquarium.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-mote-marine-laboratory-aquarium.jpg","width":700,"height":700,"caption":"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/person\/eaafc906e22d5190c4190107520332e1","name":"Olivia Cameron","url":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/author\/ocameron\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}