Manatees May Have Lived In Texas During The Ice Age, Says UT Researchers

Manatees may have called Texas home during the last ice age, according to researchers at the University of Texas.

The researchers looked at eight fossils and bone fragments from ancient manatees that were found near Port Arthur and Galveston. It's evidence that manatees were once in Texas between 11,000 and 240,000 years ago. However, researchers haven't been able to tell if the ice age sea cows lived near Texas' shores or if they were traveling through for thousands of years.

“This was an unexpected thing for me because I don’t think about manatees being on the Texas coast today,” said Christopher Bell, a professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. “But they’re here. They’re just not well known.”

Manatees are now mostly seen in Florida where they live in warm water with plenty of vegetation and sea grass. They have been spotted in Texas, but it's incredibly rare since the water along the Gulf Coast is too cold for them. In 2019, "Molly" the manatee made headlines for appearing in Galveston Bay because sea cow sightings are so rare.

The manatee fossils also raised questions among the scientists about what the climate was like in Texas during the ancient time period. They believe either the Texas coast was warmer than originally believed or that the ancient animal was more resilient to the cold.

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