Manatees in popular culture

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The following is a list of references to manatees in popular culture.

[edit] Television

  • Manatees were featured in the "Cartoon Wars Part II" episode of South Park, as the creative force behind the television show Family Guy. The manatees were shown to be living in a tank at FOX Studios which was filled with "idea balls." The manatees randomly selected the idea balls to make the jokes for the show. They are also revealed as being "the only animal unmoved by terrorist threats."
  • Manatees were also featured in the South Park episode "Fat Camp", where the class dissects them after a shipment of manatees was accidentally delivered to the school instead of a shipment of dead frogs. One of the episode's plots, involving Kenny performing stunts for money, resulting in his own television show, comes from a dare for Kenny to eat the manatee's spleen.
  • The Family Guy writing staff now appears to use the phrase "manatee gags" for the "like that time I..." jokes in the show, as shown on the Season 5 DVD commentary.
  • The manatee has been featured on Late Night with Conan O'Brien ever since a skit on December 4, 2006 in which Conan made an off-hand mention of a non-existent website. It inadvertently forced NBC to purchase the web address http://www.hornymanatee.com. They have since created a popular website featuring, among other things, a vast gallery of fan art dedicated to manatees and their various imagined amorous proclivities.
  • British comedy show Bo' Selecta! lampooned Marilyn Manson in the show's spoof of MTV Cribs by showing Manson owning a pet manatee named Jamal that lives in his swimming pool.
  • During a story arc of Heroes, Claire and Zach invent a story that they have been assigned as partners in a research project for school to study manatees. In reality, they are trying to find out who Claire's birth parents are after her adoptive father introduced her to a pair of actors posing as her birth parents.

[edit] Music

  • The They Might Be Giants song "Cow Town" tells the story of an explorer communicating with manatees underwater.
  • In the popular Christian themed video series Veggie Tales, the character Larry sings a silly song called "Endangered Love", featuring a plush manatee.
  • Teacher/Entertainer Kurt Whitman is a musical artist known as Manatee Boy, who writes humorous songs about cookies. [www.garageband.com/manateeboy]

[edit] Other

  • Comedian Jim Gaffigan has a bit regarding a confused sea cow who is on Ricki Lake's talk show and who must contend with ignorant questions from the audience. ("You need to get yourself on weight-watchers or something...", "I have a layer of blubber to keep myself warm in the water", "Whatever, talk to my hand.")
  • Flash Animation Website Weebl's Stuff published a short, musical flash document regarding the manatee.[1] The animation is actually about the dugong which they falsely state is also known as the manatee. While manatees and dugongs belong to the same order, sirenia, they are different families, trichechidae for the manatee versus dugongidae for the dugong.
  • Actor John Lithgow has written a children's book titled I'm a Manatee.
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