The Deep Dive Blog

Thanks to a $100,000 grant from our Marine Mammal Fund, Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA)‘s Manatee Rehabilitation Center is saving manatees’ lives. On November 10, CMA welcomed three new juvenile female manatee patients: Sabal, Orchid, and Vora. Each was rescued as a young orphan and will now receive attentive care from

Before Florida’s highways were built and cities began their sprawl, Seminole women stitched stories into cloth. Their colorful patchwork designs, with vivid rows of orange, red, turquoise, and yellow, became a way to express creativity, identity, and community. In the early 1900s, sewing machines made their way into Seminole and

Florida’s Coral Reef stretches 350 miles along our coast, providing a home for a quarter of all marine life. Yet, it faces enormous challenges from rising ocean temperatures, invasive species, and diseases like the devastating stony coral tissue loss disease that has swept across the reef since 2014. Recent reports

Florida’s Everglades is one of the most important and fragile ecosystems in the world. For the past 30 years, that fragility has been threatened by the spread of invasive Burmese pythons. These large predators have severely impacted native wildlife, preying on birds, mammals, and reptiles that are essential to the

When Breanna and Alex of Salty 3D Prints talk about their work, it is clear that their art is about more than creating beautiful objects. From their Florida studio, they design and 3D print jewelry, sculptures, and educational pieces inspired by wildlife. Each creation, whether a sea turtle keychain, manatee

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to pose a serious threat to Florida’s white-tailed deer population. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) recently confirmed the state’s second case of CWD, discovered in a young white-tailed doe struck by a vehicle in Holmes County, near the Alabama border. The first

As spooky season creeps closer, Florida’s moss-draped oaks take on an ominous glow…at least for those who love a good ghost story. From the cobblestone streets of St. Augustine to the misty swamps of the Everglades, our state is full of ghostly legends and mysterious happenings. Some of these tales

Our team recently joined Sea & Shoreline for the latest maintenance check on our eelgrass restoration project on the Weeki Wachee River, and we’re thrilled to report that the grasses are thriving! Each month, the team heads out to carefully clean the GrowSAV™ cages, removing algae and sediment that can

This year, proceeds from the “deer” Wildlife Foundation of Florida license plate funded critical habitat conservation, research, and public engagement projects across the state. Altogether, this year’s grant cycle yielded $412,434 in grant dollars! Highlights of the work supported include: Habitat restoration and management: Grants will support prescribed fire, invasive