The 800-pound manatee rescued from Cape Cod last week is pregnant.

Officials from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the nonprofit organization that rescued the manatee from a small inlet in East Falmouth, discovered the pregnancy during a routine medical exam. The manatee is four or five months along. The gestation period for a manatee is about one year.

Rescuers found her just before the water dipped to 67 degrees. Manatees can die in water temperatures below 68 degrees.

“We were really fortunate to find the manatee and rescue her before the water temperatures dropped,” Katie Moore, director of IFAW’s animal rescue program, said in a statement. “Knowing that she is carrying a calf makes her survival even more important.”


The manatee, named “Washburn,” was taken to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut for rehabilitation. Once she’s stable enough, she’ll be moved to a longer term rehabilitation center in Florida. She will eventually be released back into the ocean.