2,812 doesn't sound like a whole lot of animals, but, just as I found when I read this morning's Washington Post article on the proposal to delist Manatees as an endangered species, it's hard to tell whether 2,812 is the total number of Manatees, or the total number in Florida waters (with more elsewhere?).
The Post tells us:
Of a population of about 3,200, 416 died in 2006, the highest number of deaths recorded in 30 years of statistics.
And...
By all accounts, the Florida manatee population has increased since the 1970s.
The first article linked, a more recent story from the Associated Press, tells us,
This year's annual manatee census recorded 2,812 of the animals, also known as sea cows, in Florida water. In 1991 -- the survey's first year -- 1,267 manatees were counted in the state.
So the numbers are 1970: ?; 1991: 1,267; 2006: 3,200; 2007: 2,812, as far as I can tell. The increase from 1991 to 2006 (15 years) seems the most promising thing in either story.
Oddly enough, the Post also chose to profile the Mozart of Mathematicians today...
Posted by Ideofact at April 9, 2007 11:01 PM