Florida zoo's petition calls for creation of a manatee emoji

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A Florida zoo is asking manatee fans to sign a petition calling for the creation of an emoji bearing the likeness of the "iconic Florida species."

The Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa authored a petition on Change.org calling for a manatee emoji to celebrate the species in honor of Florida's Manatee Awareness Month.

"Elephants, tigers and penguins all have emojis, so why not manatees? By creating an emoji, we are making it easier for people to think about and share their love for these gentle giants," the petition states.

The zoo said it is aiming to gather 25,000 signatures on the online petition before presenting it to Unicode, the nonprofit that regulates the universal coding for emojis.