KSC-05pd-1075

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Looking more like an alien life form than a mammal, a manatee floats on its back in the Haulover Canal near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Manatees live in Florida's warm-water rivers and inland springs. The Florida manatee feeds on more than 60 varieties of grasses and plants. Manatee cows give birth about once every three years. Gestation lasts about 12 months. KSC shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses 92,000 acres that are a habitat for more than 331 species of birds, 31 mammals, 117 fishes, and 65 amphibians and reptiles.