Orphaned manatees doing well in Georgia

Two orphaned manatees from Florida are doing well at their new temporary home in Georgia, feeding regularly on heads of romaine lettuce and being watched by specialists with Georgia Aquarium.

The young manatees, each less than a year old, arrived at the Georgia Aquarium facilities on March 9 and are doing well, said Chris Coco, the senior director of aquatic sustainability at Georgia Aquarium.

"Florida manatees are dying of starvation at an alarming rate. Over a 1,000 animals were known to perish last year, and this year the situation is even grave.

And so they were retrieved by our colleagues in Florida and brought back to facilities in Orlando to go ahead and start their rehabilitation in the long term care process," Coco said.

The two manatees will be at Georgia Aquarium's off site facilities for about two years before they will be released back into the wild.