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• Mote Manatees predict Super Bowl 50 winner

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Who will win Super Bowl 50? Well, it depends on whom you ask. Mote resident manatee Buffett says the Denver Broncos will win, but his pal and fellow Mote resident manatee Hugh says the Carolina Panthers will win.

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016 the two manatees made their predictions at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium for the ninth year in a row.

“Every year for the past nine years we have placed a PVC structure with NFL team logos on either side of the structure in the exhibit with Hugh and Buffett,” said Kat Boerner, Manatee Research Supervisor. “Much like their target training, which revolves around research husbandry behaviors to help facilitate veterinary care, the manatees touch either side of the PVC structure to choose which team they think will win in the Super Bowl.”

Aquarium visitors started their day at the Ann and Alfred E. Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center where they learned how Hugh and Buffett serve as ambassadors for wild manatees before cheering on the manatees hoping their favorite team was predicted to win Super Bowl 50.

“This is a fun, exciting tradition that we’ve started here at Mote,“ said Boerner, a diehard Denver Broncos fan. “While most days we’re focused on training these manatees and learning from them, today was about some good old football fun. And I’m thrilled Buffett picked the Broncos. I’ll be crossing my fingers he is right. Go Broncos!”

Here is a record of Hugh and Buffett’s Super Bowl winner picks:

The Super Bowl has become a national event since its debut in 1967. Since that time football fans from across the globe eagerly await Super Bowl Sunday each year to see the season's best NFL teams go head-to-head. Super Bowl 50 will take place at 6:30 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 7 as the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers compete for victory.

About Hugh and Buffett

Aside from being sports fans, Hugh and Buffett are the world’s most extensively trained manatees. Training helps their veterinary care run more smoothly and allows the two manatees to participate in innovative research about how they use their senses, such as hearing and touch to survive, and about their physiology. Mote’s research is designed to help resource managers protect these endangered mammals.

Moving forward, the researchers are studying manatee physiology. The primary goal of this study is to determine oxygen consumption and metabolic rates of manatees. To accomplish this, researchers will measure cardiovascular, metabolic, and heat production of trained manatees during sedentary and active periods.  The collected data may enhance physiological assessments of rehabilitating manatees prior to release.