Snooty the Manatee Celebrates 66th Birthday with Fans and Friends

Birthdays are always special, but none quite get the same fanfare that Snooty the manatee, the world's oldest sea cow, gets each and every year.

Like every July 21, this year hundreds of fans and friends from all over the state flocked to the South Florida Museum in Bradenton to celebrate Snooty's birthday. This year, the birthday party was held in advance on Saturday, and as always, any friend of Snooty's got in free.

At a ripe age of 66, the giant sea cow is the oldest manatee in captivity, and possibly one of the oldest ever.

"If you lived in a pool where people gave you a bath and fed you lettuce by hand and you had no other predators and the water was always a nice warm temperature, you'd be living long too," Brynne Anne Besio, executive director of the South Florida Museum, told The Associated Press (AP). "He's protected, he's safe, he has a great diet, he has regular medical care, and so he's got all the odds for him in terms of living long."

Thankfully, the 1,000-pound mammal is in good health, cutely munching on 80 pounds of lettuce each day and swimming around in his tank with two other smaller manatees being treated for cold stress.

Snooty was born in 1948 in captivity after Miami fishermen captured his mother, who was pregnant with him at the time. And ever since, hundreds have been visiting him, coming back each year to wish him a happy birthday.

"We are down here every year for his birthday," Julie DeJarette, talking of her and her daughter Ashley, said, according to YottaFire. "I think she's been coming to see Snooty since she was born."

Not only is Snooty fun to look at, but he also raises awareness for manatees and other wildlife in Florida.

Manatees can live up to 20 or 30 years on their own, yet the average manatee doesn't usually survive past 10 years old in the wild. After all, the wild holds many dangers, mostly from humans, that those in captivity like Snooty don't have to worry about. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, manatees get killed when they are hit by watercraft, trapped in pipes, crushed in floodgates, or poached.

"It's tough to be a manatee in Florida," Robert Bonde, a research biologist and manatee expert for the US Geological Survey, told the AP.

Snooty has been named "ambassador for all other manatees," and every year that he celebrates his birthday hundreds also celebrate this unique species.

"Every year we celebrate a birthday for Snooty, it sets a new records as far as the aging potential for manatees," Bonde added.