In Search of 'Mamiwata'

Mamiwata is an African name for a spirit believed to be embodied by the manatee. This blog chronicles my search for the elusive African manatee, and my exploration to understand its biology, habitat and preservation needs, economic and cultural significance. So little is known about this animal, yet it is intensely hunted almost everywhere it exists and may already be gone from much of its previous range. In 2006 I was inspired to go find and study them, starting in Gabon.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Back to Africa!

I landed in Dakar, Senegal late Saturday night and am now finalizing my work for this field season, which will be shorter than the past few years (only 2 months!) because I need to be back at the University of Florida to take classes in January. For those of you who may not know, in addition to my job working with West African manatees, I am also working on my PhD on West African manatees (ecology, behavior and genetics). So I pretty much do nothing but think about manatees at this point! But I love it.

Dakar is very hot and humid right now, close to 90 degrees, which is challenging to acclimate to after spending the last 6 weeks in the wonderful, cool, northeastern USA. The rainy season should be ending soon, which will also hopefully bring a drop in temperature. I hope to do more surveys and a training session for biologists here. I will also be going to Mali in a few weeks to lead a manatee training workshop there with participants from 5 countries.