Have you ever watched someone do their job and wished it were yours? After watching this video that The CLEO Institute posted on TikTok, we’re pretty sure that just about everybody who sees it is going to want this job!
The video shows an animal caretaker at SeaWorld doing their job: feeding baby manatees. Make sure your sound is on so that you can hear the baby manatee as he sucks away on his bottle. It’s such a sweet little sound! We could watch them all day!
@cleoinstitute Did you know that as of March 14, 2025 the Unusual Mortality Event (UME) impacting manatees along Florida’s East Coast, driven by starvation due to seagrass loss, was officially closed. Despite the devastating loss of 1,255 manatees from December 2020 to April 2022, a combination of strategic interventions has significantly improved conditions for the species. Collaborative efforts by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) led to critical rescue and rehabilitation efforts, saving 137 manatees during the UME. A supplemental feeding trial supplied 600,000 pounds of leafy greens over two winters, helping manatees endure the seagrass shortage. Today, manatee mortality has returned to expected levels, and sightings of mating herds and cow-calf pairs are further signs of recovery. While seagrass is slowly rebounding, ongoing threats from habitat degradation and watercraft collisions underscore the need for continued monitoring and conservation efforts #SaveTheManatees Footage by: @wesh2
Sign us up for this job! That adorable little manatee was so calm and patient and seemed to be excited about chow time! While The CLEO Institute’s TikTok didn’t gain a lot of traction, it received hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram, and viewers left nearly 5,000 comments.
@matt.chong shared, “I wanna feed the water potatoes too, but the law says no…” @spicyxiomaria added, “Not only does he get to feed the baby, but he also gets to touch it. Life is not fair.”
@ank232 joked, “Someone needs to offer this as a spa treatment. Baby manatee treatment with a bottle of your cocktail of choice…” @the_parrot_lady said what we were all thinking, “So why did the job fair not tell me about this?!?!?!”
Related: Adorable Baby Manatee in Florida Is Quickly Breaking the Internet
All About Florida’s Manatees
The CLEO Institute shared some very insightful information about the manatees of Florida in the video’s caption, “Despite the devastating loss of 1,255 manatees from December 2020 to April 2022, a combination of strategic interventions has significantly improved conditions for the species.
Collaborative efforts by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) led to critical rescue and rehabilitation efforts, saving 137 manatees during the UME. A supplemental feeding trial supplied 600,000 pounds of leafy greens over two winters, helping manatees endure the seagrass shortage.
Today, manatee mortality has returned to expected levels, and sightings of mating herds and cow-calf pairs are further signs of recovery. While seagrass is slowly rebounding, ongoing threats from habitat degradation and watercraft collisions underscore the need for continued monitoring and conservation efforts.” While it’s great to hear that the manatee numbers are returning to normal, it’s sad to hear that their habitats continue to be destroyed.