Do manatees live in the Chesapeake Bay?
Manatees have been found in the Chesapeake Bay, even though the Bay is much farther north than the species is thought to travel. In 1994, a male West Indian Manatee from Florida, which affectionately became known as Chessie, was located swimming and feeding on underwater bay grasses in a tidal river on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Biologists captured Chessie and returned him to Florida. After his return to Florida, biologists continued to follow Chessie’s travels with the help of a satellite-transmitted signal tag. The following year, Chessie’s travels took him to Point Judith, Rhode Island—farther north than any other West Indian Manatee in known to have traveled. Although Chessie had not been seen since 1996, he visited the Bay again in the summer of 2001.
