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Happy birthday, manatee! Tampa woman sees birth behind her home

It's not often the miracle of life presents itself to you in your backyard, but that's what happened to a local woman.
Credit: Amy Lynn Van Orden
Amy Lynn Van Orden saw a baby manatee being born behind her home.

It's not often the miracle of life presents itself to you in your backyard, but that's what happened to a local woman.

Amy Lynn Van Orden was watching the canal near her dock in Tampa on Monday when she noticed a manatee show up. Then she saw a second manatee swimming with it.

Then, as she put it on her Facebook post:

The two swam together for a bit, then the energy shifted. One manatee began swimming back and forth, almost frantically, even doing spins right in front of the dock. Who knew a manatee could move so quickly?! There was a huge cloud of what appeared to be blood, and then- there were 3 manatees!!!

She says the baby manatee came up for air, with the parents nudging it along. The family swam together for a while before heading out to Tampa Bay.

Awesome!

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