At the end of January I finished packing up and left Florida, which definitely was the end of an era for me. I moved there in May 1998 to begin a job with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission running a manatee research field station in southwest Florida. After 6 years I left that job to pursue international manatee work and began working in Africa in 2006. Although I've spent a lot of time in Africa since then, I returned to FL for my PhD in 2009, and my home base has been there until now. I'll miss my friends and colleagues there a lot, but it's time to get back to fieldwork and conservation on the ground in Africa.
After leaving Florida in early February, my husband Tomas and I drove north on our "Friends, Family and Funders" tour of the northeast. We spent 2 weeks in Washington DC and I gave presentations about my dissertation results and ongoing projects in Africa to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service. We also donated an African manatee skull to the Smithsonian Museum and were treated to an amazing behind the scenes tour of their marine mammal storage facility in Maryland by longtime curator Charley Potter and Dr. Daryl Domning.
Me, Tomas, and Dr. Domning with the skull we donated
Side by side comparison of West Indian (Florida), African, and Amazonian manatee skulls.
Ok, so it's not a manatee, but the blue whale skull at the Smithsonian facility was amazing!
On March 1 we flew back to Senegal, and we're currently setting up our home and office. I look forward to sharing more African manatee news and stories soon!
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