Monday, November 09, 2009

Gabon: On my Way to Tag Manatees!

I left Dakar early this morning and am now enroute to Gabon. I'll be there until the end of February and the big plan for this year is to try to capture manatees in N'dogo Lagoon, do baseline health assessments and outfit them with GPS tags to track their movements. They won't be easy to catch, they're secretive and the water is murky, but after scouting locations near Sette Cama for the past two years, I think we have a better chance there than almost anywhere else in Gabon. There are lots of manatees, no targeted hunting and lots of great habitat. And if we are successful, this will be the first time GPS tracking has been done with the species. I have a great team that will assemble for the captures in a couple weeks (after I finish preparing logistics in Libreville), and I'll introduce them shortly. I'm really looking forward to it!
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Aerial view of some of the many islands in N'dogo Lagoon.

1 comment:

Ariel said...

Go get 'em Lucy, I'm excited to follow along with your adventures this year, and congrats again on your UF fellowship. I was just looking at the university's wildlife conservation website today, it looks like they have a great program. Best of luck this season in Gabon, it sounds like it should be your best one yet.
Ariel