Gulf State Park

The scientific name for manatee is Sirenia, which sounds very similar to the mythical creatures called Sirens. There have been stories of sirens and mermaids for centuries and some Greek mythology depicts them as women like with fish tales and a call that would lure sailors to their deaths. While sirens are mythical creatures, the stories of their sightings just might have some truth to them. It is believed that the mermaids Christopher Columbus reported seeing in the late 1400s might have been some of the first written records of manatees in North America. Join our naturalist at the Learning Campus for a talk about manatees and the stories about how they got their name!