Photos by Erika Larsen erikalarsen888 | Manatee Appreciation Day is an opportunity to celebrate these charismatic mammals. Dynamic cultural aspects surround the Florida manatee, and it's easy for people to fall in love with the animal. They line up to get photographs with Marley the Manatee, the blow-up mascot of the Save the Manatee Club, one of the key players in manatee conservation. In Crystal River, Florida, the "Manatee Capital of the World," it's possible to find everything manatee themed. At a yearly manatee festival, people enchanted by manatees can even swim with them. This controversial activity has two sides: Too much disturbance could change manatees' natural behavior and survival rate. The other side is that you need to know something to care about it; snorkeling with manatees is also an economic incentive for keeping the Crystal River ecosystem intact. These beautiful creatures are keystone species whose behavior can alert us to environmental and habitat changes. Manatee...