It's a great day for wildlife lovers, as the latest numbers indicate that, during the past year, a manatee population record has been established in the American state of Florida, as scientists have found that their long-term conservation efforts to preserve the sea mammals is working.
Manatees are an aquatic species of (mostly) herbivorous marine mammals that are also known as sea cows, and they're also a species that has been thought to be the inspiration for the mythical creatures of mermaids - in other words, they've been around for centuries, and the new manatee population record seems to point that they'll be around for many more years to come.
The manatee is also a native animal of the state of Florida, though it's been considered endangered since 1893 and has been under state preservation ever since.
The latest census has found a manatee population record well beyond the previously established one: apparently there are one thousand more of these mammals than there were in 2010, giving great hopes to conservationist experts as they move forward to save the species, along with many others.
According to The Guardian, Florida experts have just recently published the manatee population record, after they've conducted a series of aerial surveys during the year, depending on the weather.
Interestingly enough, scientists have stated that they have no way to estimate the number of manatees that are not visible during surveys, so this manatee population record, which amounts to 6,063, is actually considered the lowest possible count in the state.
Website Phys Org reports that this is about a thousand more manatees that the previous surveyed record, established in 2010.
According to Orlando Sentinel, the highest-ranked area in the state in terms of manatee population was Brevard County, which in 2014 hosted 612 of these mammals and this year has a population of 1,677.
The team who found the manatee population record consisted of 20 observers from 11 different organizations, all of who ended up finding 3,333 of the mammals in Florida's east coast and 2,730 in the west.