Chill hits Florida wildlife

Record cold temperatures in the southern United States are threatening much of the diverse and often endangered marine life in Florida.

A prolonged cold spell has reduced the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico to about ten degrees Celsius, and dozens of turtles, paralysed by the cold, are being washed up on the beaches.

Some have been taken to rehabilitation centres, to be revived in warmer water.

And on Florida's Atlantic coast, three of the increasingly rare manatees -- lumbering vegetarian mammals also known as sea cows -- tried to find relief in the warmer water around a power station outlet.

They, too, were taken to a marine park for treatment.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service