Video of Baby Manatee Being Fed After Surviving Hurricane Goes Viral

A baby manatee at the Zoo Parc of Beauval, France, on July 19, 2014. Guillaume Souvant/AFP/Getty Images

Baby manatees in Florida who survived a Category 5 hurricane became an internet sensation after a keeper showed them being fed on Jan. 12, 2019.

Baby manatees José, Dex, and Ursula appeared in a 23-second video in which a SeaWorld Orlando employee appears to bottle-feed one of them. They were rescued after being separated from their parents during Hurricane Irma in 2017.

“Come here munchkin, oh yeah it’s your turn,” the employee can be heard saying on the video uploaded to Instagram by National Geographic contributor Michael George.

While rotating the baby manatee so its back is facing her, she comments, “Boys really?” and laughs.

The employee holds the baby manatee in place with her left hand while using her right hand to search for the feeding bottle. When she offers the baby manatee the bottle, it opens its mouth and starts loudly sucking on it.

George revealed he loves baby manatees and had to upload the video as part of a promotion for the second printing of his book, “Life at the Zoo.”

“I had to put the baby manatee video up as a post, so it can live here forever and y’all can watch it whenever you’re sad,” he said on Instagram. “This is with the SeaWorld Rescue Team in Orlando, Florida.”

Since uploading the video it has been viewed more than 40,000 times. On VT’s Facebook page the same video has been viewed more than 670,000 times, liked 11,000 times, and shared 5,000 times.

In a previous post George explained the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission brought the baby manatees to SeaWorld for rehabilitation and release.

“These babies require constant care, and are bottle-fed every three hours, 24/7,” George said on Instagram. “Their bottles are filled with an infant formula with plant oils, protein sources, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, and sustainably harvested palm oil.”

The SeaWorld Rescue Team has assisted at least 31,000 ill, injured, and orphaned animals in need over the past few decades, according to George.

“In addition to these babies, the team recently received a call about a small group of adult manatees in South Carolina who were caught in a sudden cold spell,” he said. “They were days away from dying of frostbite and the rescue team drove back and forth for three days, working 24 hours, to bring the adults to their Manatee Hospital.”