Romeo, O Romeo

Romeo and Juliet in 1974 relaxing while their pool was being cleaned. Photo courtesy of Miami Seaquarium.

I had a big desire for my birthday this year. I wanted Bucko to go with me to the Tampa Zoo at Lowry Park to visit Romeo. I had hoped to also see Juliet on this trip, but alas, Juliet is now gone. But Romeo is still alive and I had to get there before he too succumbed to old age.

Romeo and Juliet were the two manatees I once took care of at Miami Seaquarium back in 1973 to 1975. Really, I had mostly forgotten about them until they popped into the headlines. These two old manatees were being given new digs about six months ago. When the old orca Lolita (Toki to her trainers like Bucko) died in her pool after her own many decades at Seaquarium, pressure was put on the new owners of the theme park to move the manatees out too, before they succumbed to the deteriorating conditions there. I couldn’t believe they were still alive so many years after I had last seen them in Miami. Even though Juliet did not survive in Tampa for many months, unbelievably Romeo, at around 64 years of age, was alive and thriving. I knew I wouldn’t be able to interact with Romeo, but still I wanted to see him. And, Bucko obliged me, good husband that he is.

Romaine lettuce covers the surface of the manatee tank for them to graze on at will.

Back at Seaquarium in the 1970s Bucko was a marine mammal trainer and I was an aquarist tending mostly to fish. But a highlight of my work day was feeding cabbage to Romeo and Juliet. When I first got to Seaquarium these two adult manatees were housed in a shallow petting pool, too shallow for them to even mate. I always felt sorry for them and spent as much time as I could scratching their back with a brush -- which they loved -- and talking to them. One day a gardener approached me and told me that he had trained Romeo and Juliet to give him kisses. This I had to see.

So one morning I arrived early and met him at the edge of the manatee pool. Sure enough, he talked to the manatees in Spanish and coaxed them up onto the edge of the tank using apple slices, then he leaned over and they pressed their snout to him, “kissing” him. Amazing! And even more amazing, after many frustrating years in this too-shallow pool, now that the animals had learned how to get in an upright position, Juliet became pregnant!

Finally, the pair was moved to a larger pool with underwater viewing windows and Juliet successfully gave birth to the first of a few babies she had over the years. But we had to stop feeding them cabbage. You know, cabbage causes digestive gas, right? Well, it was fun for us keepers to watch through the windows the large cloud of gas emanating from the manatees and then bursting up with a foul smell above the tank, where unwary tourists were gathered. But when the veterinarians changed their diet to romaine lettuce, the foul gases were just a memory and the fun for us employees was over.

Romeo is the largest manatee at the Tampa Zoo and the oldest manatee in captivity anywhere.

So, last week Bucko and I drove to Tampa to start my three-day birthday trip. It was a 98-degree day when we arrived at the Tampa Zoo so we didn’t linger there long. We made a beeline to the manatee area, where we chatted with some employees about Romeo, told them our stories and suggested that they give him apples sometimes as a treat, something they had never thought of. Romeo was relaxing in a large pool with a couple of other manatees, and some sea turtles, ducks, and various fishes also provided company. But Romeo stood out from the rest of his tank mates. He was big back when I knew him and he is even larger now. Upon arrival in Tampa Romeo weighed 2,150 pounds and is the largest manatee currently in the Tampa Zoo herd. And, at 67 years old he is now the oldest manatee in captivity in the world and is pushing the lifespan limits of wild manatees as well.

Aside from his size, though, Romeo looked just like the rest of them to me: brown and potato-like, doing nothing much more than eating and sinking to the bottom. The surface of the pool was covered with romaine lettuce, not cabbage. I guess our experience with manatee flatulence was passed on through the years.

I am really happy to have seen Romeo, even at a distance. It is a rare occurrence for an animal keeper to find that one of their charges is still alive 50 years after they last saw it. With all his years in captivity, his lack of wild experience and his fragile age, Romeo will never be released to the wild. I hope at his next birthday they give him apples. Passing on this knowledge is the best I could do for him. But here’s to more birthdays for Romeo, finally, in this large facility that he well deserves and to a future full of apple treats.

Note: If you want to learn a lot more about manatees check out the series of columns by my fellow writer Lauri DeGaris.

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. [email protected]