11/20/2023 0 Comments Baby manta ray tickledHer fetal folds (birth wrinkles) were still visible, but they were a bit more stretched and had flattened out. But we were even more thrilled to welcome her back at the viewing site in April 2022. Read more here about how manta rays get their official names! Five months later…Īfter a few sporadic sightings in November and December of 2021, Kamala Ray didn’t show herself in the first three months of 2022. 'Manta rays dont have this venomous stinger. 'Stingrays use a stinger at the base of their tail to defend themselves,' McCombs says. Really, we had no choice but to call this baby manta ray “Kamala Ray”. Manta rays also frequent cleaning stations, where they hover silently above a reef and allow smaller cleaner fish to remove parasites from their body.' 4. (In 2017, we named a manta “Obama Ray”, and that is a fun story you don’t want to miss!) I admire Kamala Harris for her incredible leadership and breaking of the glass ceiling, and had been wanting to name a manta ray “Kamala” for a while so this was my chance! I was thrilled that the pup is a female, and really, had no choice but to call her “Kamala Ray”. Since the first couple of sightings took place in November and December of 2021, shortly after the US Presidential Election of 2020, when Kamala Harris became the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected vice president of the United States. We have enjoyed naming many manta rays over the years. Read more here about how to see the difference between a male and female manta! The Naming of the Baby Manta Ray This allowed us to identify the little manta as female. Steven Ray Tickle is one of the main stars of 'Moonshiners.' He has surprisingly managed to stay a part of the show despite his long history of alcohol, arre. In order to do that, we looked for claspers (male parts) by the pelvic fins but couldn’t find any. Once we got over the surprise of meeting this tiny new manta ray, we wanted to check the sex and see if it’s a male or female manta. Picture of Kamala Ray (and her wrinkles) taken on November 23rd, 2021. She came so close, that we were able to take pictures of her fetal folds. We were overjoyed that the pup came incredibly close to us humans she was obviously new to the situation of feeding around the big lights at the manta ray viewing site. These crease marks were still showing on this “tiny” pup, and this was something that (to my knowledge) had never been reported on before about a live manta ray. Read all about the birth of manta ray babies (with pics and videos) on this page! The baby manta gets expelled from the mother with its pectoral fins folded behind its back (imagine: rolled up like a burrito), and so it makes sense that when the pup unfolds its wings to start swimming, there would be crease marks (aka fetal folds or birth wrinkles). This baby manta was about 2.5 feet.Īlthough manta rays are fish, their pups are born alive they only give birth to one pup at a time. Two days before Thanksgiving 2021, we were taking a group on a moonlight swim with manta rays when we saw a tiny manta.Īs far as manta rays can be tiny, of course: newborn reef mantas are usually around two to three feet (around 60-90 centimeters) from one fin tip to the other. In 2021, we had the privilege of meeting the smallest manta ray we’d ever seen – she must have been a newborn. But by observing manta ray mating rituals, the birth of a manta ray pup, and the pregnancy of individual manta rays (like the video footage we turned into Big Bertha’s pregnancy diary here), we’re learning more and more each year. “Like all wild animals, stingrays should be left alone to live out their lives in peace, free from human interference and harmful hobbies, such as sportfishing,” Mr Williamson added.It’s still unclear to us how baby manta rays develop, as it is hard to study ocean creatures this mysterious and elusive. The animal’s movement of these body parts in response to the tickle could have been its distress response for being touched there while already struggling to breathe. In the TikTok video, the two dots above the ray’s mouth are not its eyes but are actually its nostrils, and the underside where the person tickled the animal also has the gills which it uses to breathe under water. Some social media users also pointed out that the perception of the ray as “smiling” when tickled is a classic example of anthropomorphization when people attribute human emotions to animal expressions. "I will not touch ocean animals unnecessarily for social media clout"
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