Nearly 1,000 Manatees Converge on Florida State Park to Keep Warm in Record-Breaking Sighting

A group of manatees is called an aggregation—and visitors to Florida’s Blue Spring State Park north of Orlando have just witnessed some of the largest aggregations ever recorded at the site.
Hundreds of the threatened mammals—affectionately known as “sea cows” for their slow-paced swimming and gentle giant demeanor—have been wintering together in the park’s warm springs throughout January. Huddling and resting in the shallow, turquoise waters near grassy riverbanks and mangrove trees, the manatees are riding out the cold. Rangers rang in 2024 with an official Blue Spring record, counting 736 manatees in the park on New Year’s Day, and impressive totals between 200 and 700 manatees continued in the following weeks, updated routinely on the park’s Instagram.