Out of all the giant creatures (well, at least bigger than humans), manatees are officially the least dangerous – they almost never go out of their way to attack you in any form. This however does not mean that they can’t be scary; especially true if you have absolutely no idea what/who they are. For the sake of comparison, manatees are often referred to as sea cows and just like a cow, it won’t do anything to you, but it won’t shy away from giving you the horns if need be – if you know what we mean.
Posted below is a (hilarious) clip of a woman freaking out after discovering that she is swimming right next to a ginormous manatee – interestingly enough, as scared as she is, she manages to hold on to her camera (maybe selfie stick?) and swim to safety.
In case you ever find yourself in this situation, know that your best option is to quietly swim to safety without creating any havoc – panicking a manatee is not something you want to test; what you see in this video is exactly what you should never do. For the most part, you will almost never encounter a manatee as they are listed as endangered species and are kept in protected waters where public activities like swimming and boating are prohibited.
You should know that there are strict fines (up to $100,000) put in place for people that go into these areas to encounter manatees. Touching, trying to ride, or any type of harassment is simply a no-no.
Since the woman managed to get to safety without any injuries, and her friends were kind enough to share her hilarious freak out with the world, we think it’s okay to get a little laughter out of this.