WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of Florida’s favorite marine mammals is getting recognized with a United States Postal Service stamp. A new "Save Manatees" stamp will be available across the country later this month on Manatee Appreciation Day.

What You Need To Know

  •  The 'Save Manatees' stamp will be issued later this month

  •  The stamp was illustrated by artist Nancy Stahl

  •  A ceremony for the stamp will take place in Silver Springs, Fla.

Over the years, Nancy Stahl has illustrated some of the most iconic USPS stamps, from "Soda Fountain Favorites," to the "19th Amendment: Women Vote" stamp, to endangered animal stamps.

“I’d been illustrating for about 25 years when I was contacted by the Postal Service. And that was just the icing on the cake of a long career, and it was exciting to think that my drawings appear on something so practical, and that will be used by so many different people, and that some people collect them and save them,” Stahl said in an interview.

Stahl said when the Postal Service asked if she was interested in designing a manatee stamp, she jumped at the chance.

“The manatee was actually kind of hard to draw because it’s a very heavy, big animal. And docile, so docile,” she said.

But the beloved creature is threatened. Patrick Rose, the executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, said there are only an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 manatees within U.S. waters left as they face the effects of climate change, threats from watercraft strikes and seagrass bed depletion.

“About 60% of the manatees that are alive today are dependent on artificial warm water produced by power plants. Most all of those power plants will go away in the future if we’re going to be able to deal with the carbon issues, and so forth. So, we have some huge risks going forward in addition to those problems manatees face today,” Rose said.

He said he hopes the new "Save Manatees" stamp designed by Stahl will call attention to protecting the marine mammal for people across the country.

“I certainly hope so. And I do believe it will once people learn more about manatees and that they are a defenseless animal, even if they are a large marine mammal, that they’ll want to learn more about them, and if they do learn more about them, hopefully, they’ll also want to try to help,” he said.

Stahl named the manatee on the stamp "Gladys" after her grandmother. She is excited to see her creation in the mail soon.

“It’s such a common thing, your mail. You get your mail, and there’s my drawing on it! You know, I just love it, and it makes me really happy when people use my stamp,” she said.

The stamp will be issued on March 27 at a ceremony in Silver Springs, Fla.