tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344457412024-03-07T19:52:12.568-05:00In 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. Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.comBlogger285125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-8214288487836191112015-10-22T07:54:00.001-04:002015-10-22T07:54:52.829-04:00Manatee Calf Rescued in Nigeria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On October 9 our colleague Dr. Edem Eniang rescued a 2-3 week old manatee calf that had been caught in a fishing net by hunters. The hunters had kept the calf in a well for 3 days and were planning to eat it, so the timing of the rescue was very lucky! This is the calf in the well... if you look closely you can see a small turtle above its nose. <br />
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Unfortunately, there was no way to release the calf back to the wild. There were too many manatee hunters and nets in the area, and no adult manatees had been seen. A calf as young as this would not be able to survive for long without its mother. Although we don't know yet how long African manatee calves nurse from their Moms, it could be as long as for their cousins the Florida manatees- 2 years. Dr. Eniang brought the calf back to his house, took some measurements and its weight, and placed it in his fish pond. He then contacted me to ask how to care for it, and we began searching for an aqaurium that can raise the calf and provide it proper veterinary care.<br />
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The pool has now been filled with plants, which the calf is eating (we think African manatees may start eating plants much sooner than Florida manatees) and Edem and his graduate students are feeding the calf a special milk formula developed for baby manatees.<br />
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We are grateful to our friends at the<a href="http://manatipr.org/" target="_blank"> Manatee Conservation Center in Puerto Rico</a> and my graduate student Jonathan Perez (who helped raise Victor, the orphan manatee in Gabon, a few years ago) for two care packages sent to Nigeria with bottles & special calf nipples, milk powder and vitamins.<br />
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We also started looking for a long-term home for the calf. Unfortunately there are no public aquariums in Nigeria that have the ability to care for a manatee, but within two days we had heard from 5 aquariums around the world who offered to take the calf. We chose the facility we believe will best be able to care for the calf, while also contributing to African manatee education on the African continent. We're now in the process of obtaining the correct permits for the calf, and once that's done we can announce the facility.<br />
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In the meantime I'm traveling to Nigeria next week to help Edem care for the calf and to meet with officials to discuss the transfer of the calf to its new home. I'll write more as I travel! Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-6413668916182264102015-10-22T07:01:00.000-04:002015-10-24T09:31:38.681-04:00New Home for the African Manatee Project<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFhe6vHnXOpehzNBG-DIlnV9irgVn9cactOz0GrneXWojQST9AyaCrqpQ4jyFtEHdjMD28gJhvfq6YjcCHPsQ6O4WcQL4r-WAj3llRj1QUC7lpmq0Y9rCcArpRjCVQez02OWqXPA/s1600/AACF+Final+logo+close+cropped+1508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFhe6vHnXOpehzNBG-DIlnV9irgVn9cactOz0GrneXWojQST9AyaCrqpQ4jyFtEHdjMD28gJhvfq6YjcCHPsQ6O4WcQL4r-WAj3llRj1QUC7lpmq0Y9rCcArpRjCVQez02OWqXPA/s400/AACF+Final+logo+close+cropped+1508.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_1008498620">We are very excited to announce that the African Manatee Project </span>has joined forces with the </span></span><a href="http://africanchelonian.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">African Chelonian Institute</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and formed a new non-profit organization for research, conservation, and education of all African manatees and turtle species! We are now the African Aquatic Conservation Fund. Our mission: </span></span></span><br />
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Through focused research, conservation, and education actions, the
African Aquatic Conservation Fund is dedicated to the preservation of African
manatees, turtles, and other aquatic wildlife and their habitats throughout the
African continent. We work in close partnership with local people, scientists,
governments, and other stakeholders for the benefit of both wildlife and
humans. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our website is coming soon, but for now please check us out on</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AfricanAquaticConsFund?ref=hl" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"> </span>Facebook</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!</span> </span></span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-82802403633502195192015-10-09T10:47:00.000-04:002015-10-09T10:47:10.366-04:00Cameroon<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For the past month I've been having trouble posting pictures on this blog, but today I finally fixed the problem! So here's another very overdue post....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqmM_Ia2_wDmHkRlSLbRucHdiafAVWnD4fDru_-hJscpd03PzMEuUO8uYPmSTLK0tKfy6RZJcMfmfBTGTUV-VSv0Ublf3ZB2lvn5Y-dDGqTykG3vdpwdM-MWbC_DCsR6_2Frya5g/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqmM_Ia2_wDmHkRlSLbRucHdiafAVWnD4fDru_-hJscpd03PzMEuUO8uYPmSTLK0tKfy6RZJcMfmfBTGTUV-VSv0Ublf3ZB2lvn5Y-dDGqTykG3vdpwdM-MWbC_DCsR6_2Frya5g/s400/1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Last June, before I went
to Gabon for the MENTOR training workshop, I made my first trip to
Cameroon. I've been working with two very energetic manatee researchers
there, Aristide and Rodrigue, for several years now and was very happy to fionally get there! We started out at their main study site, Lake Ossa in southern Cameroon. This is Rodrigue, on the porch of their office.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglyQ4ZsyUA2c_6l6VyIslk4aH34pQbO83xWKKpnlLNirJGYrlrwQpvAaKVpSqNBmrALoBLHFo9jo4O4b2CUKFLjqJ-_JObSYoVHPo-nFSi3SFurp38YcF-o1iXI-tWaZySOR87fA/s1600/7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglyQ4ZsyUA2c_6l6VyIslk4aH34pQbO83xWKKpnlLNirJGYrlrwQpvAaKVpSqNBmrALoBLHFo9jo4O4b2CUKFLjqJ-_JObSYoVHPo-nFSi3SFurp38YcF-o1iXI-tWaZySOR87fA/s400/7.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We did several surveys on the lake and were lucky enough to see over 10 manatees! This is amazing for Africa, where sightings are very few.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprlX9UcO0jVdK40Ly3v8myg46-FW2-w1FD4m77NGiMTXV8Ttwqe_Lkjt-g2cxsFPe-EoFSSsPdL0AJQZLhBryKijThfDIOt0yhuRtJeIE4uYHcDZpdlIh9nIZZ8Y0X29Ky074Gg/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprlX9UcO0jVdK40Ly3v8myg46-FW2-w1FD4m77NGiMTXV8Ttwqe_Lkjt-g2cxsFPe-EoFSSsPdL0AJQZLhBryKijThfDIOt0yhuRtJeIE4uYHcDZpdlIh9nIZZ8Y0X29Ky074Gg/s400/2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a photo of a manatee fleeing, it's very hard to get photos of them... </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwtbd84lGnoBmaxjyE0insbzn98CuCXabD0wLRqCy_vkvt0Ux-cGkzIQPLHktvAjLa-AosXqk9ktAn8j-Qr3_LQWgLOg3uHe6fZZ-PNA_6c-XBFtOZ9LNSWq0hvY0N6bFLZo_cQ/s1600/3.5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwtbd84lGnoBmaxjyE0insbzn98CuCXabD0wLRqCy_vkvt0Ux-cGkzIQPLHktvAjLa-AosXqk9ktAn8j-Qr3_LQWgLOg3uHe6fZZ-PNA_6c-XBFtOZ9LNSWq0hvY0N6bFLZo_cQ/s400/3.5.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fishermen in Lake Ossa have filled the lake with bamboo poles attached to traps used to catch small fish. The problem is that the bamboo causes silt to build up, making the lake shallower and less hospitable to manatees. The lake is a protected area, so Aristide and his group are trying to find ways to work with the fishermen so that the manatees continue to have enough good habitat, but the local community can still continue to fish there.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDodtZFmqDOMe16G2JCIFXi3g6PI0g6lIWvBEvbOPT1Rx1VaWMWHFfdqSIcizx_l9xQuxPT4UOT1N7TSmSBzQs7BzZwhyFd5mFyu-cZBXDktwOxgG5P1fN9hObw2c0440hyphenhyphenKQZEQ/s1600/2.5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDodtZFmqDOMe16G2JCIFXi3g6PI0g6lIWvBEvbOPT1Rx1VaWMWHFfdqSIcizx_l9xQuxPT4UOT1N7TSmSBzQs7BzZwhyFd5mFyu-cZBXDktwOxgG5P1fN9hObw2c0440hyphenhyphenKQZEQ/s400/2.5.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aristide's organization, <a href="http://www.ammco.org/" target="_blank">AMMCO</a>, is working to understand where manatees spend their time in the lake, identify "hotspots" and manatee diet, and study water quality in different parts of the lake. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Aristide is the first person in Africa to use side scanning sonar to detect manatees. It's an amazing technology that finally allows us to count the numbers of manatees in the murky chocolate milk water. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHyRINS-S3qOQ4ggBI0_eYcUybAM5FU4MJAsoGtXWBzwjhpLEKJ0pOF5HkEsC6tCFIwFMnbhBj1Xa-Pczad-4Lew10JsBDHh8zyQL1zYk7sTY9-3_jdeWYKfPCi-6YfSB_0fPxPw/s1600/3+Aristide+Humminbird+Lake+Ossa+Cameroon+LKD+150529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHyRINS-S3qOQ4ggBI0_eYcUybAM5FU4MJAsoGtXWBzwjhpLEKJ0pOF5HkEsC6tCFIwFMnbhBj1Xa-Pczad-4Lew10JsBDHh8zyQL1zYk7sTY9-3_jdeWYKfPCi-6YfSB_0fPxPw/s400/3+Aristide+Humminbird+Lake+Ossa+Cameroon+LKD+150529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Water sampling probe </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7HVI8qxglFibfQQJ2OIbTXq46wnJ9KcyNeOJ7gycgXj4pVOp5pzuG9RcigW2jRHGmmniUyt_dJMHZWGOoEVgBtofidg87B9xXvLZ0vte2NDfXabp6FT1UkaJ8SnFfedDd8F_9zA/s1600/4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7HVI8qxglFibfQQJ2OIbTXq46wnJ9KcyNeOJ7gycgXj4pVOp5pzuG9RcigW2jRHGmmniUyt_dJMHZWGOoEVgBtofidg87B9xXvLZ0vte2NDfXabp6FT1UkaJ8SnFfedDd8F_9zA/s400/4.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.ufic.ufl.edu/news/2015Kamla.html" target="_blank">Aristide is also working on his PhD</a>, and is studying manatee hormones to see if pregnancy can be determined. To do this he collects manatee feces (poop!) and then tests it for hormones. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKvBRfJgEvrz1rVX3Bfrm0iE3lUKWzqvpE0WXE8UM4aPqDcucc5jLre4B1-rAOM_rozvxqyZuK9qz8BWnYu4_bD82LlKrSJrgYHqtFUuWqRNIN9Ss2PYtG3yhPVsHQVSJIHnUfA/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKvBRfJgEvrz1rVX3Bfrm0iE3lUKWzqvpE0WXE8UM4aPqDcucc5jLre4B1-rAOM_rozvxqyZuK9qz8BWnYu4_bD82LlKrSJrgYHqtFUuWqRNIN9Ss2PYtG3yhPVsHQVSJIHnUfA/s400/5.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I checked the poop for any signs of fish bones or mollusk shells, but these samples were 100% plants.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0LliGokB6RGwr3FOpHsC45MCkvK_mNWk1OgB3EzE0OOmm0KyIUOX1ZvXgLyCU89ZEObgsujaKJdQygeGoeA2vS7g6Xpo01EybV01SAmwxSKXb2J35aK2Iunf5HbRyhA3-X_Ngw/s1600/6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0LliGokB6RGwr3FOpHsC45MCkvK_mNWk1OgB3EzE0OOmm0KyIUOX1ZvXgLyCU89ZEObgsujaKJdQygeGoeA2vS7g6Xpo01EybV01SAmwxSKXb2J35aK2Iunf5HbRyhA3-X_Ngw/s400/6.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rodrigue and Aristide's group have created 7 different public awareness posters to educate people that manatees are protected and hunting them is illegal. This one's my favorite- the manatee is saying (in French), "set me free, I'm not for dinner!"</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOh9KqBolGjl8bKxmAFzdjDemt-qX0WYrP8NESzWEkjPdQdQgaL_VmLDz2qONcQ0m8gbILQP7UDJtMi6a2zLlE5u8TWKu3j-Yig49g8sjJVF7UF-z_47FKsvnrR6tT2rMfUZYBg/s1600/8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOh9KqBolGjl8bKxmAFzdjDemt-qX0WYrP8NESzWEkjPdQdQgaL_VmLDz2qONcQ0m8gbILQP7UDJtMi6a2zLlE5u8TWKu3j-Yig49g8sjJVF7UF-z_47FKsvnrR6tT2rMfUZYBg/s400/8.JPG" width="286" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After Lake Ossa we visited a coastal fishing village, Londji, where Aristide's stranding network is working with local fishermen who report live and dead stranded manatees and other marine mammals. We met with the fishermen to discuss their challenges and progress, and then they gave us a really nice tour of the beach and a mangrove forest. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, I traveled to the University of Dschang in western Cameroon, where I gave a talk about my PhD research to the Animal Ecology graduate students. They were, without a doubt, the most enthusiastic audience I've ever spoken to! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Group photo with the Animal Ecology Dept. after my talk. </span><span style="font-size: small;">I look forward to future collaboration with this university.</span></span><br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-85614120990046766842015-10-09T09:29:00.000-04:002015-10-09T09:41:37.431-04:00MENTOR Manatee Team<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Team MENTOR Manatee: Samuel, Aristide, Constant, Bridget, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cyrille, Pascal, Christy, and Rebecca (in costume)</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">I'm
very late in writing to announce an exciting new initiative that I've recently begun. Thanks to funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, I'm leading a two year long fellowship training program for 8 Central African
manatee biologists, called MENTOR Manatee. <a href="http://www.fws.gov/international/pdf/factsheet-mentor.pdf" target="_blank">MENTOR (Mentoring for ENvironmental Training in Outreach and Resource conservation)</a> is a
signature initiative of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Without Borders
Program to build the capacity of<i> </i>multidisciplinary teams of African
conservationists who can work together to address complex conservation
challenges. In addition to three training sessions over two years, the MENTOR Manatee participants
have two team projects, as well as an individual African manatee project that
they will complete over two years. The team projects focus on manatee hunting/bushmeat
documentation and manatee education programs. Between workshops each fellow is
expected to carry out a manatee bushmeat study and manatee education programs at
sites in their home country. Fellows receive a stipend towards their individual projects and also receive field equipment and educational supplies. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">MENTOR Manatee
officially began with the first group training session in Gabon in July. The 8 participants
were selected for the program through a lengthy application process. They are a super enthusiastic group of five men and three women from Cameroon, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. </span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We started the first week of training off in Libreville, with lectures on conservation and education in Central Africa, given by Dr. Kate Abernethy (University of Stirling), Luc Mathot and staff (Conservation Justice), Marie Claire Paiz (The Nature Conservancy), Dr. Hugo Rainey (Central Africa Marine Program Director at Wildlife Conservation Society), Heather Arrowood (OELO), and Aimee Parnell (Green Butterfly Designs, she designed our African manatee education materials and programs).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For the second week, we moved to Lambarene, on the Ogooue River in Central Gabon, where each participant gave presentations about their conservation and research background and their MENTOR project proposals. With our partner organization <a href="http://www.oelogabon.org/" target="_blank">OELO</a> the group visited a local market and restaurants where manatee meat is sometimes sold (we didn't find any), and helped post a sign in the market about the African manatee's protected status. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The team also met with students from high school nature clubs to talk about careers in conservation... </span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The team spent the third and final week at <a href="http://oelogabon.org/content/ecotourism-tsam-tsam" target="_blank">Tsam Tsam</a>, an ecotourism lodge on beautiful Lake Oguemoue. There we focused on team building activities and I met with each fellow individually to plan their project activities for the next 6 months. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Afternoon hike to a nearby savannah... we saw signs of elephant, pangolin, and duikers</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">While at Tsam Tsam, we did several manatee surveys and visited a village of known manatee hunters, for the team to practice their interview skills.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By the end of three weeks, we had a very close and cohesive team! </span></span>Now everyone is back in their home countries working on their projects. The next training workshop for the team will take place in Cameroon in April 2016. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For more on our July training program, see the awesome blog written by our partner, OELO: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.oelogabon.org/news/mentor-manatee-program-2015">http://www.oelogabon.org/news/mentor-manatee-program-2015</a></span></span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-39010887614019561232015-04-16T12:33:00.000-04:002015-04-16T12:33:15.388-04:00Senegal: Quick trip to Delta Saloum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Earlier this week I spent two days in the Delta Saloum region of central Senegal to meet with the director and staff of Bamboung National Park. Two years ago they found a dead manatee (the cause of its death was not due to humans as far as they could tell) and Tomas was able to collect samples from it, which I analyzed in Florida. Now it was time to go back, meet the guys who work there, share the results of my analyses, see their site, and talk about future manatee work. As you can see by their logo above, the manatee is the emblem of their park, and everyone I met was super enthusiastic about manatees, and excited to hear the results that came from a few carcass samples. The results included the manatee's age (29 years old), diet (seagrass and clams), and genetics information (the manatee turned out to be a new mitochondrial DNA haplotype for the species which I also identified from a manatee from Joal, a town in northern Delta Saloum) <br />
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Here's the team I met (I later also met the director in his office). The guy in the brown shirt was absolutely thrilled to hear I had proved (using stable isotope analyses) that the manatee from their park had eaten mollusks in addition to plants. His grandfather was a manatee hunter, and he remembers as a child his grandfather telling him about the manatees eating clams, but when he tells tourists that story, they tell him he's mistaken. He was so happy that there is now scientific proof! During our meeting we decided we'd make a manatee information plaque for the park. Two years ago they buried the dead manatee to clean the skeleton, so we'll dig it up and set up the bones for a manatee educational display. <br />
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<br />At the edge of the camp area the staff showed me a freshwater spring (it's not visible here but is just in front of the small beach in this photo). There are hundreds of freshwater springs in Delta Saloum, which allow manatees to live in a saltwater environment but drink the freshwater they need to survive. <br />
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I also noticed lots of oysters growing on mangrove roots, another possible source of food for manatees. I'll sample those next trip because I didn't have preservative with me this time.<br />
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On our boat trip back from Bamboung to the mainland I collected samples from three species of mangroves, which I'll add to my stable isotope analyses to determine if manatees in this area are eating them. In all likelihood they are, but stable isotope work will allow us to see whether or not the mangrove's signature is found in the manatee samples. <br />
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I should also mention that I met with Karim Sall, a longtime manager of the marine protected area at the north end of Delta Saloum. He has seen manatees several times in the reserve's extensive seagrass beds, so I'm planning to go sampling there next summer. It's great to reconnect with folks in Senegal and get manatee fieldwork started again! Lots more to come..... <br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-17641332208417403872015-04-03T11:02:00.000-04:002015-04-16T11:50:28.884-04:00Manatee Hunter Arrested in Togo<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Photo courtesy of Gabriel Segniagbeto</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A well-known manatee hunter has been arrested in Togo and over 20 skulls and 17 other bones confiscated, thanks to the great work of a Togolese organization called <a href="http://www.ancetogo.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=435&lang=en" target="_blank">Alliance Nationale des Consumateurs et de l'Environment (ANCE)</a>. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Click<a href="http://www.ancetogo.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=332:togo-appeal-to-international-collaboration-to-save-the-last-population-of-manatee-in-togo&catid=87&Itemid=1392&lang=en" target="_blank"> here</a> to see the story and photos. </span>I heard about this hunter as far back as 2008 when I was in Togo to attend the Convention of Migratory Species meetings where we wrote an MOU and Action Plan for the African manatee. But at that time the Togolese people I met felt there was no way to have the guy arrested. Here's hoping this will greatly help conservation of Togo's remaining manatees, which appear to be in extreme danger of being hunted out. I'm in contact with ANCE and hoping to help them get manatee research and educational programs started there.</span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-17068102379471158092015-04-03T10:38:00.000-04:002015-04-03T10:38:01.802-04:00Detecting African Manatee Populations<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A new genetics
study just completed as part of my dissertation research has defined African
manatee populations across their large range (21 countries) for the first time.
Over eight years I collected 78 manatee tissue samples from eight countries and
successfully isolated DNA from 63 of them in order to determine where distinct
populations of the species occur. Collecting the samples was actually the
hardest part of the study, because manatees in Africa live in very remote
places, and even when samples were collected (from carcasses, live manatees
rescued or captured for studies, and from manatee bushmeat in markets) it
sometimes took over a year to get the proper export permits to send them to my
lab in the USA for analysis. Most of the samples came from Senegal and Gabon,
because those are the studies where I have long-term study sites. Other samples
were collected during trips to other countries or provided by collaborators working in those countries. I studied two mitochondrial
genes which are commonly used for population genetics because they can inform
us about deeper evolutionary levels, and populations rather than individuals. I
identified different haplotypes, which are a unique combination of forms of a
gene found on same chromosome. That sounds complicated, but think of haplotypes
being ice cream, and the different combinations are like different flavors. For
example, mocha chip and mint chocolate chip are more similar to each other than
to strawberry ice cream because they both have chocolate chips. In the same
way, some haplotypes are mostly closely related to each other and are from the
same population, whereas others are more distantly related and are from
different populations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My research
identified 25 new haplotypes for the African manatee, which is exciting since
only five had been identified prior to this study. The study identified four
populations: one in West Africa (coastal Senegal, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau), a
separate population in the Senegal River, an inland Niger River population that
included samples from Mali, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, and a large population in
West and Central Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, and Gabon). This
study is a first step and once it is published, we will continue collecting and
analyzing samples in order to continuing defining more fine-scale population
structure. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">map of DNA (control
region) haplotypes identified in 63 African manatee samples. Sixteen new (solid
colors) and five previously published haplotypes (patterns; Vianna <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. 2006) are shown in pie charts.
Circle size corresponds to the total number of samples per country, and slices
are proportional to haplotypes found (see inset table). Asterisks (*) indicate
previously published haplotypes identified by this study at four new locations.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKuX6xWOo1e-x1HuR8OFsAgcWZdzrpzoM9Z1f2qDBb65ZXowWlWU9orj91Ka_NQiukRCCKg-IOqY4ntlRzw5-5kqqHfTgE0uTz_8twlUbtRpBsIl5IBI1DAbDPvJv8zX8hCM3zg/s1600/African+manatee+Range+map+DL+Cytb+Haplos+&+legend++141013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKuX6xWOo1e-x1HuR8OFsAgcWZdzrpzoM9Z1f2qDBb65ZXowWlWU9orj91Ka_NQiukRCCKg-IOqY4ntlRzw5-5kqqHfTgE0uTz_8twlUbtRpBsIl5IBI1DAbDPvJv8zX8hCM3zg/s1600/African+manatee+Range+map+DL+Cytb+Haplos+&+legend++141013.jpg" height="295" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By
defining manatee populations across Africa, this work aids conservation efforts
for the species by informing wildlife managers in many countries about where
unique populations exist, where they can focus trans-boundary conservation and
management efforts (when populations occur across borders), and where efforts
need to be targeted to specific locations where manatee populations are
isolated. My co-authors and I are very excited to publish this work in the
scientific literature soon!</span></div>
Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-68137277848984103192015-03-13T10:54:00.000-04:002015-03-13T10:54:54.983-04:00African Manatees Are Omnivores! There’s a good reason manatees are also known as Sea Cows. They’re often seen feeding in seagrass beds or along the banks of rivers, much as cows graze meadows on land. The Florida manatee, the most studied species, is believed to be a strict herbivore (although there have been occasional observations of them eating marine invertebrates, and recently fish). But during my ten years of work with African manatees, in almost every country I’ve visited, I’ve repeatedly heard stories from local people that manatees steal fish from nets, and that they eat clams and mollusks, both freshwater and marine varieties. At first I was surprised, because I thought African manatees would be just like their Florida cousins, but I heard these reports so often from people in countries thousands of miles apart, that I decided I had to investigate. <br />
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Fishermen in eastern Senegal show catfish heads left in nets after manatees ate the rest of the fish.<br />
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African manatees are very hard to observe in the wild due to their shy nature and the murky water habitats they live in, so I decided to research their diet using a technique known as stable isotope analysis. The name sounds intimidating, but the concept of stable isotopes is really quite simple: every plant and animal has a unique carbon and nitrogen signature, which differs for lots of reasons including the attributes of environment they live in (rainfall, water quality, soil quality, pollution, etc.) and many other factors. By collecting samples of everything we think an organism eats from each habitat they live in, these signatures can be used to determine what makes up an animal’s diet. <br />
In my case, I collected plant, fish, and mollusk samples throughout manatee habitats in Senegal and Gabon, as well as bone samples from manatees from the same areas, to determine their average lifetime diets in the different habitats in which they lived. I was also able to sample manatee bones collected 70 years ago from a museum collection, so that I could compare manatee diet in the past to samples collected recently. Then I took all the samples to the laboratory, processed them to get their stable isotope values, input those values into an analysis program, and got some exciting results.<br />
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This is a manatee ear bone, sectioned to sample average lifetime diet. <br />
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African manatees sampled from both Gabon and Senegal, and both freshwater and marine systems, regularly ate mollusks and fish as part of their diets. For Gabon manatees living in lagoons and rivers in the Central African rainforest, the model estimated their diet was 90% plants and 10% invertebrates (fish were not sampled from Gabon). In the Senegal River, for manatees living in a desert environment at the edge of the Sahara, plants composed 46 - 57% of diet. The remaining diet proportions were composed of mollusks (19 - 24%) and fish (24 - 27%). Manatees living along Senegal’s coast indicated a diet of 48% clams and 51% seagrass. So for manatees in Senegal, approximately 50% of their diets were <b>not</b> plants! For a species considered an herbivore, this is pretty big news. There was no significant difference between historical and recent manatee samples for either the Senegal River or the coast, and although sample sizes were small, this indicates that sampled manatees had similar diets throughout life, and that diet proportions have not changed significantly over the past 70 years. <br />
So why is this important? The results of this study give us accurate information about the food resources manatees utilize over time in the different habitats they live in. This can help resource managers prioritize specific places where food resources are abundant for conservation purposes. This new information also increases the list of species we need to monitor as important food sources for manatees. For example, now that we know manatees in Senegal depend upon mollusks and fish, we need to try to resolve conflicts with fishermen and help to conserve not just the plants, but all the species manatees depend upon. This is the first dietary analysis study for the African manatee and I look forward to publishing the results in the scientific literature soon, and continuing my studies of manatee diet in other countries.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-12125026770628223512015-03-06T09:36:00.001-05:002015-03-06T13:43:19.532-05:00Back to Africa At Last!!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. <br />
<br />
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. <br />
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Me, Tomas, and Dr. Domning with the skull we donated<br />
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Side by side comparison of West Indian (Florida), African, and Amazonian manatee skulls. <br />
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Ok, so it's not a manatee, but the blue whale skull at the Smithsonian facility was amazing!<br />
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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! Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-75517041141265149612014-12-30T16:45:00.001-05:002014-12-30T16:45:55.021-05:00Happy New Year!! <span id="goog_398054434"></span><span id="goog_398054435"><br /></span>
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I have no idea where the time went this past Fall! I apologize for my silence the past few months. I'm now wrapping up my work and life in Gainesville, FL and preparing for the big move back to Africa in March. I'll be based in Senegal and am very excited to get back to African manatee fieldwork. <br />
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Big things are coming for the African manatee project in 2015! These include:<br />
- continuing development of long-term study sites and partnerships in Senegal <br />
- in collaboration with the USFWS, I'll begin a new two year training program for manatee graduate students from Central Africa, called MENTOR Manatee <br />
- continuation of support for our projects in Cameroon, Gabon, Nigeria, and Mali<br />
- work on 7 manatee scientific manuscripts...hopefully several will be published in 2015! <br />
- continuing African manatee population genetics in collaboration with colleagues at the<a href="http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Manatees/manatees.html" target="_blank"> USGS Sirenia Project</a><br />
- and much more! <br />
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Wishing everyone a successful and happy 2015!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-17378403984314255552014-10-24T11:23:00.001-04:002014-10-24T11:27:22.492-04:00Senegal: Tocc Tocc Reserve update<div abp="601">
<span abp="602" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a busy summer and autumn for the EcoGuards and Community leaders at Tocc Tocc Reserve in northern Senegal. The EcoGuards are now patrolling the reserve full time, and we're fortunate to have raised enough funds for a second boat for the reserve, which allows more wildlife monitoring and patrols. </span></div>
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<a abp="604" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFF7fooRRQV79CfJs0C5yalz-va5XHUA9oB-9dVoFX8DXRfm7cKAcfz4mi3g9SkSVOVytLw9CoCwIfbjPc3nzf9UDD73FTP0-ZP1sMdfMVpBSQcpazrNQ3ZldGSsRZcznhSuWVPw/s1600/New+wooden+boat2+Tocc+Tocc+Senegal+TDiagne+140907.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="605" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFF7fooRRQV79CfJs0C5yalz-va5XHUA9oB-9dVoFX8DXRfm7cKAcfz4mi3g9SkSVOVytLw9CoCwIfbjPc3nzf9UDD73FTP0-ZP1sMdfMVpBSQcpazrNQ3ZldGSsRZcznhSuWVPw/s1600/New+wooden+boat2+Tocc+Tocc+Senegal+TDiagne+140907.JPG" height="163" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span abp="607" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The EcoGuards confiscated and destroyed the
first illegal fish traps in the reserve (after giving the owners warnings to
remove them, which they did not). The installation of buoys marking the reserve
boundaries now guarantee people are aware of the protected area, which aids in
enforcement of the regulations. However, because the local community supports
and oversees the reserve, there have been few instances of broken rules, and
most of those cases came from seasonal fishermen from outside the community. <span abp="608" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ten fishermen have been arrested and fined for violating no fishing rules within refuge. Funds collected from fines were used by the community conservation committee towards refuge costs. </span>So
we believe the reserve is now protecting all the wildlife that uses it.
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<span abp="610" style="font-family: inherit;"><br abp="611" />
<span abp="612" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span abp="613" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additionally, since educational programs began last year, we have received five
reports of manatees entangled in fishing nets from villages outside the
reserve. In four cases, the EcoGuards were able to safely release the manatees
back to the wild, and in the fifth case the manatee had unfortunately drowned,
but genetics samples were collected that are helping us further
understand the Lac de Guiers manatee population. We believe
the increase in the number of reported entangled manatees (none were reported before this
project began) is a direct result of our educational outreach and awareness
programs in the area. Now that all the abandoned nets have been removed, manatee sightings within the reserve have also greatly increased. Between April-June 2014, manatees were sighted
almost every day, which is a very large increase over the previous year, when
they were sighted only every few weeks.
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<span abp="623" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="624" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="625" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="626" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="627" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span abp="628" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="629" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span abp="630" style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span abp="631" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span abp="632" style="font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy of Modou Diop Boh</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span abp="634" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="635" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="636" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br abp="637" />
<span abp="638" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="639" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span abp="640" style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span abp="641" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In September, the first observation tower was completed, and eleven members of Senegal's parliament visited the refuge to see a good example of community-based conservation that can be used as a model for other sites in Senegal. It was a grand occasion with lots of speeches by the politicians and tours of the new tower.</span> </span></span></span><br abp="642" />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">photos courtesy of Tomas Diagne</span></div>
<span abp="655" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="656" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span abp="657" style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span abp="658" style="font-size: small;"><span abp="659" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Next, we begin raising funds to build an education center </span></span></span></span></span><span abp="660" style="font-family: inherit;"><span abp="661" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span abp="662" style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span abp="663" style="font-size: small;"><span abp="664" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span abp="665" style="line-height: 115%;">at the reserve </span>for the public and tourists. </span></span></span><br abp="666" />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-3318688608968187632014-09-18T14:59:00.003-04:002014-09-18T14:59:50.238-04:00Welcome to Florida Aristide! <div abp="166">
In late August, Aristide Kamla began his Fulbright scholarship towards his PhD at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida. The college has just posted a very nice story about Aristide, which can be read <a abp="168" href="http://veterinarypage.vetmed.ufl.edu/2014/09/12/new-graduate-student-fulbright-scholar-to-study-manatee-health/" target="_blank">here</a>. I'm excited to continue collaborating with Aristide for African manatee baseline health and population studies in Cameroon!<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-10400020071424082932014-08-09T10:20:00.000-04:002014-08-09T10:20:36.763-04:00Graduation!! It was a very happy and emotional day for me yesterday- I graduated with my PhD from the Aquatic Animal Health program, College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida! Eight years of sample collection and analysis, and 5 years of PhD program are finished! I'm incredibly grateful to all the many collaborators both in Africa and the USA who worked so closely with me to make this possible. My greatest hope is that the results will help the conservation of the African manatee, and I look forward to many more years of work with this unique and fascinating species.<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-51243574194545155692014-08-07T20:31:00.001-04:002014-08-07T20:31:34.344-04:00Recent African manatee network activitiesIn the past few months several network members have been very active with training, educational outreach and data presentation activities. Here are a few brief updates! <br />
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In April, Aristide Kamla held his largest training workshop yet in Cameroon. This workshop was specifically for Biology Masters students from the University of Dschang, where Aristide completed his Masters degree several years ago. One young manatee researcher from Nigeria also attended. I was very happy my project could support this workshop, and to hear all the enthusiasm both from the students as well as the university faculty for the training, and for the opportunity to get out into the field. Apparently the university doesn't offer practical training to graduate students in the field, so this was a rare opportunity for Aristide to show them an active study site and how manatee research is conducted. The photo below shows participants, university staff and several invited speakers. Photo courtesy of A. Kamla.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHJjFTY7ZFiso3a63OmiIlpeB-G59GRaZS3_6OzG5DKxPsl_giKeGnjg1v1kK7Dl_cl0ToIUNx5ms9cPdPPm2fX3XMd-c66JgKUmXw3TVyrPYL3vEdxy3EUdg2QQhs_ofMiVHpw/s1600/Manatee+training+group+in+tshirts+AKamla+140404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHJjFTY7ZFiso3a63OmiIlpeB-G59GRaZS3_6OzG5DKxPsl_giKeGnjg1v1kK7Dl_cl0ToIUNx5ms9cPdPPm2fX3XMd-c66JgKUmXw3TVyrPYL3vEdxy3EUdg2QQhs_ofMiVHpw/s1600/Manatee+training+group+in+tshirts+AKamla+140404.JPG" height="217" width="400" /></a></div>
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In early July in Mali, Soumaila Berthe had a manatee educational booth at the World Environment festival in Bamako, which lasted for 2 weeks. He was able to raise awareness and give manatee information to hundreds of people. The project designed and distributed manatee stickers, informational pamphlets, and key rings. This was the first manatee awareness campaign in Bamako. Photo courtesy of S. Berthe.<br />
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In mid-July this project supported Rodrigue Ngafack's travel from Cameroon to participate in the African Marine Mammal Colloquium in South Africa. He presented a poster on the results of his Masters research in Lake Ossa, Cameroon. This is the first time an African manatee presentation has been given at this conference, and we hope to increase presentations by other researchers in future years. Rodrigue really enjoyed the opportunity to meet other marine mammal researchers working in other parts of Africa. Photo courtesy of R. Ngafack.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-41926007275286810022014-06-25T11:55:00.002-04:002014-06-25T11:55:29.523-04:00Manatee education campaign in Lambarene, Gabon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last Fall the local Gabonese NGO OELO (short for Oganisation Ecotouristique de Lac Oguemoue) began an educational campaign in Lambarene, the largest town on the Ogooue River in Central Gabon. The educational campaign is greatly needed, since Lambarene and the surrounding villages along the river many adjacent lakes are the center of manatee hunting in the country. OELO was founded by Cyrille Mvele (seen below at the school he attended as a child) who grew up in the area and is concerned about the illegal hunting and decimation of Gabon's protected wildlife. <br />
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OELO hired a fulltime educational outreach coordinator, Stephanie, seen below giving a presentation. Cyrille, Stephanie, and OELO co-founder Heather all helped coordinate and participated in the manatee training workshop I taught in Gabon last September.<br />
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Programs start out by giving kids a questionnaire that tests their knowledge of protected species and then follows up by providing information on which species are protected and therefore shouldn't be hunted, sold, or eaten. <br />
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As part of a program on endangered species, kids were asked to paint their favorite wildlife species in its natural habitat. Many of the kids chose elephants and monkeys, but at least 6 kids in a recent program chose manatees. The trouble was, every painting showed manatees being killed as their natural habitat! So clearly OELO has their work cut out... but it's great that they are working so hard with younger generations to teach them the importance of wildlife protection. Here are some of the manatee paintings:<br />
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Not only is the mother manatee in the painting above harpooned, but the man is saying "I like this"! Yikes... the reality is that many people in Africa consider manatee meat a delicacy.<br />
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In the painting above fishermen net a manatee. During the manatee education program, kids won prizes (manatee posters) for answering questions correctly.<br />
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Just recently, for World Environment Day in early June, OELO commissioned a mural to be painted by a local artist on the side of a local school. They had a big ceremony for the unveiling with presentations by school nature clubs and local dignitaries. I think it looks great and hopefully it will be a constant reminder to younger generations that wildlife is worth protecting! The artist is shown with the finished mural below. I like that the manatee is near the hippo, because we have seen the 2 species is close proximity in the wild in Gabon. <br />
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Dancers at the unveiling ceremony</div>
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Stay tuned for more great work from OELO! </div>
Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-62478007739850721742014-06-25T10:51:00.000-04:002014-06-25T12:05:30.904-04:00Exciting News from Cameroon! <div abp="201">
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<span abp="202" class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">I am very happy to announce that Aristide Kamla has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship for his PhD at the University of Florida! He worked very hard over the past 2 years to achieve this scholarship- he didn't qualify the first time, but instead of giving up, he worked hard to improve his test scores, and qualified the second time he applied. Cameroon only gives one PhD Fulbright award each year and Aristide has won it, which is very impressive! My heart is bursting with joy and pride for all his hard work, and that he will be able to follow in my footsteps at UF. He plans to study baseline health of the African manatee. Congratulations Aristide for this remarkable achievement!</span></div>
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<span abp="206" class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> Also, manatee researcher Rodrigue Ngafack will soon defend his Masters thesis study (University of Dschang) of manatees in Lake Ossa, Cameroon, and he has been accepted to present his results at the upcoming African Marine Mammal Colloquium in Western Cape, South Africa next month. My project will support his travel to this conference- it's the first time there will be an African manatee presentation there. Congratulations Rodrigue! </span></div>
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<span abp="210" class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">The new Cameroon marine mammal stranding network that Aristide started last year is also being profiled on the IUCN website- <a abp="212" href="https://www.iucn.org/fr/propos/union/secretariat/bureaux/paco/programmes/ap/projets_et_thematiques/societe_civile_et_initiatives_locales_de_conservation/les_nouvelles_du_terrain/?16026/CAMEROUN-Mammiferes-marins-suivi-participatif-et-conservation" target="_blank">click here</a> to read about it. Great work guys!! I'm really happy to be an advisor to this project. </span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-37055270083944924912014-04-10T09:46:00.003-04:002014-04-10T09:46:31.729-04:00Nigeria: Save Our Species news article<span style="font-size: large;">Project funder Save Our Species has posted a nice news article on the Nigeria component of our SOS grant and all of Bolaji's work to end manatee hunting there through aquaculture training. You can read it </span><a href="http://www.sospecies.org/sos_projects/mammals/west_african_manatee/?14672/Manatee-hunters-turned-fish-keepers" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">!! </span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-21606740119876271282014-03-10T23:51:00.001-04:002014-03-11T16:24:58.395-04:00Nigeria: Bolaji Dunsin works to end manatee hunting in Lekki Lagoon through aquaculture It's surprising that there are any manatees left in Lekki Lagoon, which is located ~63 km east of Africa's largest city, Lagos, Nigeria (population 21 million!). Manatees are heavily hunted there and with the proximity of so many people, I'm astounded they still survive. A couple years ago, my colleague Bolaji Dunsin proposed a project to me: he wanted to teach local manatee hunters aquaculture as an alternative livelihood to hunting manatees. Bolaji attended a manatee training workshop I co-taught in Ghana in 2008, but in his regular job he works as a fisheries officer for Nigeria's Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research. So he has both the fisheries expertise and an understanding of manatee research. Bolaji's project became one of three that I proposed to Save Our Species for funding, which we were fortunate to receive last year (the other project sites are Tocc Tocc Reserve in Senegal and Soumaila Berthe's manatee education and habitat protection project on the Bani and Niger Rivers in Mali). <br />
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Bolaji had already spoken with manatee hunters in the Ise community on Lekki Lagoon when he developed his project proposal, so once it was funded he returned and conducted education programs about the importance of protecting manatees. He talked to hunters about his proposal that they give up manatee hunting in return for training and provisioning with all the equipment they would need for catfish aquaculture. (All photos below are courtesy of Bolaji Dunsin)</div>
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At first the hunters were skeptical and wanted the training without giving up hunting (of course!). It took Bolaji many trips to the community to convince the hunters they couldn't have the benefits of aquaculture without giving up hunting. This past summer Tomas Diagne was in the area doing turtle research, so he traveled to the community with Bolaji to talk about the success of Tocc Tocc Community Reserve in Senegal, to show that community based alternative livelihoods are working in other places. </div>
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The hunters were convinced and took Bolaji out to mark their manatee traps for removal. All the traps were documented using a GPS to make sure they were removed and no new traps were set.<br />
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Then the training began. Bolaji brought all the supplies to the community and the hunters learned how to build fish cages. They assembled the PVC pipes to create the cage structures...<br />
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They learned how to breed catfish...<br />
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How to determine the sex of the catfish...<br />
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How to prepare them for fertilization...<br />
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fertilize eggs...<br />
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...and strip fertlized eggs from female catfish. <br />
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Pens were set up and catfish were raised to market size, first in 2 demonstration pens so that everyone could learn, and later in additional cages.<br />
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Adult catfish ready for market. </div>
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Nine manatee traps were removed from the lagoon<br />
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And the next step is teaching the village women how to prepare the fish to be sold in the market.<br />
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This project has been so successful that Bolaji has been approached by 3 other villages asking for the same aquaculture training and set-ups. We'll need to continue to raise funds to expand this effort, but we're very excited to see this working so well! I commend Bolaji for a huge amount of hard work and for building the trust of the community, and we hope his project can be used as an example for other places in Africa to show that alternative livelihoods to manatee hunting are achievable. Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-83640161523785479342014-02-04T21:38:00.002-05:002014-03-11T10:27:57.939-04:00Senegal: Tocc Tocc Reserve becomes a Ramsar site! Wow, when I said "stay tuned" I didn't realize how quickly I'd have more news! And fantastic news at that... today we found out Tocc Tocc Community Reserve has been designated as <a href="http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-fifth-site-for-senegal/main/ramsar/1-26%5e26415_4000_0" target="_blank">Senegal's newest Ramsar site</a> (and only the 5th one designated in the country). This recognition will certainly help us to continue to protect this beautiful place and all its wildlife for future generations. And hopefully it'll help promote Tocc Tocc for eco-tourism!<br />
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<span id="goog_1030288925"></span><span id="goog_1030288926"><br /></span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-69063412322869453892014-02-03T14:42:00.002-05:002014-03-11T10:27:41.291-04:00Senegal: Great progress at Tocc Tocc Reserve! In the last 6 months, big things have been happening at Tocc Tocc Community Wildlife Reserve in northern Senegal. With our 22 new EcoGuards trained, regular patrols are now occurring, they've confiscated and destroyed illegal fishing gear, set out new buoys to mark the edge of the reserve on the lake side, and are clearing an opening through the reeds to the lagoon to prepare for the construction of a new dock. Here are a few photos showing all their great activities....even more incredible when you consider we have no salary to pay the staff right now, so they are doing all this work as volunteers! <br />
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Tomas Diagne led a training session for the EcoGuards last Fall. Aside from monitoring the reserve and enforcing the regulations, they are learning how to collect and record scientific data on all the wildlife species using the reserve.<br />
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Group photo of all 22 EcoGuards (including 4 women!), the national park Conservator, and some members of the Community Conservation Committee.</div>
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Two EcoGuards scouting the reserve during a routine patrol</div>
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We were also fortunate to have intern Albane Logiou this Fall, who cataloged all the fish species found in the reserve. Albane spent 3 months at Tocc Tocc.<br />
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EcoGuards also document things like signs that manatees have been feeding at Tocc Tocc. This guard holds up reeds that have been uprooted by manatees (usually at night) so they can feed on the roots of the plants. The long shredded stems are left floating on the water's surface. </div>
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Clearing reeds to create a path for the new dock was a huge job! The dock will be installed very soon and then people will be able to access the lagoon part of the reserve from land for the first time. <br />
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EcoGuards pose with the first illegal fishing gear they confiscated from the reserve after all the communities agreed not to fish there. Apparently the gear belonged to migrant fishermen from Mali, who were warned that they could not fish within the reserve, but who refused to remove their traps. The traps were destroyed. <br />
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In January cement blocks were made to anchor the reserve's new boundary marker buoys. Once they were ready they were brought by boat to the reserve...which is alot of work when you only have non-motorized canoes and the reserve is several miles away! </div>
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Guards getting ready to deploy the new buoys with the reserve<br />
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Toleu chief Niaga Boh participating in deploying the new boundary buoys! </div>
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The buoys can be seen from at least 500 feet away, which will now make it easier to enforce Tocc Tocc Reserve regulations</div>
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And residents like this Royal Tern already seem to be enjoying the buoys as well! <br />
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Next up will be construction of the dock and two observation towers. Meanwhile Tomas and I continue to try to fund raise to create sustainable livelihoods for the hard-working EcoGuards. Stay tuned! </div>
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<span id="goog_1963257133"></span><span id="goog_1963257134"></span><br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-34061661764323108962013-12-30T22:06:00.002-05:002013-12-30T22:10:58.459-05:00Society of Marine Mammalogy conference, Dunedin, New Zealand<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In early December I attended the biennial Society of Marine Mammalogy conference in New Zealand and presented the preliminary results of my (mitochondrial DNA) genetics work in a spoken presentation as well as a scientific poster. It was fun to finally be able to share some of the results of all these past years of work, and to be able to show how I'm beginning to identify distinct manatee populations across Africa. My hope is that once populations are defined and their genetic diversity is known, that it will help to direct conservation and management efforts and funding towards the most critical places and populations. To see a pdf of my poster, see Links on the right side of this page (you can zoom in on the image to enlarge it).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My project was also able to sponsor travel costs for Aristide Kamla from Cameroon, who also gave a spoken presentation at the Sirenian Workshop before the conference, as well as a poster during the main conference. Aristide also received an award from the SMM International Student Committee that covered his lodging and registration costs at the conference. He did a great job with his presentations and had a lot of interest from other researchers in the Society in his work.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here Aristide explains the stranding network that he initiated in coastal Cameroon to Dr. Randy Wells, a dolphin expert from Florida.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My colleague Maggie Hunter also presented a poster on work we've just started, with a new marker <span style="line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">using coding and non-coding DNA to provide perspective on
the divergence of all the Trichechids (the three species of manatees). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exon-priming intron-crossing
(EPIC) primers have been
shown to accurately identify species and subspecies in cryptic populations. We hope that this method will give us much greater insight into how the living manatee species evolved.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'd like to thank all my funders, who make this research and conference participation possible!</span> </div>
Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-35116603291131774912013-12-07T15:05:00.000-05:002013-12-07T15:05:25.401-05:00Cameroon Training WorkshopI'm very late in posting this, but I'm proud to report that this project was able to support a four day manatee training workshop in <span id="ecxDst[1][146:153:115:122]">Dizangue, </span>Cameroon held at the end of October and led by researcher Aristide Kamla. The 17 attendees included the manager and all the Ecoguards from Lake Ossa Wildlife Refuge, as well as local fishermen. Aristide reported that "it was the a great opportunity to bring together conservation officers and fishermen who usually don't talk to each other, and we were able to discuss together about manatee conservation in Lake Ossa and to resolve some issues of misunderstanding between them". All photos below are courtesy of Aristide Kamla. <br />
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The group in the meeting room. <br />
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Rodrigue (who attended the training workshop I taught in Gabon in September) giving a manatee presentation to the group. <br />
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Practicing standardized measurements<br />
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Learning how to use a GPS</div>
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Group photo... it's so rewarding for me to see former trainees become trainers and pass their knowledge on to others in their countries! <br />
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The group also went out on Lake Ossa to practice surveying for manatees<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-60621991164268569132013-11-17T14:31:00.000-05:002013-11-18T21:36:51.913-05:00Victor is released!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday Victor was released into Banio Lagoon in southern Gabon, just outside the enclosure where he has been raised for the past 3 years. In the past few weeks, thanks to the supervision and dedicated effort of Jonathan, Victor was able to re-gain some weight and was deemed to be in good enough health to be released. He was fitted with a specially made belt and VHF radio transmitter tag so that he can be tracked locally. Jonathan will remain in the area for a bit longer to track Victor, but he's also trained local Gabonese staff so that they can monitor his progress. Victor's belt is made with special safety features so if it gets entangled and he tugs it, it will break and free him. Additionally, manatee educational outreach programs have been, and will continue to be, conducted in villages around the lagoon to make people aware that it's important to protect manatees, and specifically to notify them that Victor is being monitored. We had originally hoped to release him in a very remote location without any people or villages nearby, but his change in health over the past 6 months precluded us from doing that. We hope he'll join up with some of the other manatees living in Banio Lagoon and learn from them. <br />
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In the photo above Victor is taste testing a water lily shortly after he was released, so we hope he'll soon be munching away on the native plants he learned to eating in the enclosure for over a year. We are very hopeful that this little manatee, the first of his species to ever have been successfully raised in captivity, will have a long and wonderful life in the wild! <br />
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I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all the different people who were involved with Victor's rescue and care along with me for the past 3 years: Jonathan Perez-Rivera, Ricardo Zanre, Brice Louembet, Davy, Junior and Robby, Dr. Ken Cameron, Rich Parnell, Aimee Sanders, Dr. Tony Mignucci, Dr. Greg Bossart, Caroline Pott, Wynand Viljoen, and Matt Shirley. We are also very grateful for the support of the following organizations: Wildlife Conservation Society, Sea to Shore Alliance, Puerto Rico Manatee Conservation Center, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Georgia Aquarium, Columbus Zoo Conservation Fund, Sustainable Forestry Management, Save the Manatee Club, and Green Butterfly Designs. <br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-91128381837944000312013-10-11T10:17:00.000-04:002013-10-11T10:17:22.493-04:00Save Our Seas Foundation VisitorYesterday I spent a very pleasant afternoon talking with Michael Scholl, the Director of Save Our Seas Foundation. Michael happened to be in Florida for meetings and asked to come by Gainesville to meet with me....it's not everyday that the Director of one of my funders stops by! It was a really nice opportunity to hear about some of the new initiatives the organization will be starting in the next year, and it's always great to be able to talk about my project in person. Michael and Tomas also found out they have some turtle connections in common. I really appreciate the interest Save Our Seas has taken to get to know me and my project over the past few years!<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34445741.post-17008265613948518732013-10-03T10:29:00.000-04:002013-10-03T10:29:14.388-04:00Gabon: Victor's setbackIt's been awhile since I've written about Victor, the orphan manatee being raised in Gabon. Unfortunately there's been a setback in his care that has resulted in his losing quite a bit of weight. Last winter and spring, Victor's local caretakers were left on their own to do their job without supervision. They had been fully trained and knew their job, so it shouldn't have been a problem. The national park person who had been supervising them as a courtesy left the job, and the position wasn't re-filled for 6 months. Also unfortunately, others who said they would check in, did not. During this time the caretakers became very lazy and stopped collecting the daily amount of plants they were supposed to be feeding Victor. They stopped sending information to Victor's care team and so it was August before the reality of the situation became clear to us. By this time, Victor had lost almost half his body weight.<br />
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As you can imagine, we were very upset and frustrated. Plans were being discussed for Victor's release back to the wild, and Jonathan, the Masters student from Puerto Rico who had been to Gabon twice over the past 2 years to work with Victor and his keepers, was planning to return to tag Victor and track him post-release. As it turned out, Jonathan's return to Gabon has worked out well for him to assess Victor's condition and work to get him back to gaining weight. Jonathan arrived last week and immediately conducted a health assessment. He sent photos, a few of which I'm including below. <br />
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Although this has been a very difficult situation, I'm grateful that Victor is still alive, and that Jonathan was able to raise his own funds to return to Gabon at what turned out to be a critical time. My project was able to sponsor his two previous trips with generous support from the Georgia Aquarium, but for this one he's been able to raise the funds himself. I'm also very thankful for the continuing care consultations provided by veterinarians Greg Bossart of the Georgia Aquarium and Ken Cameron, as well as Tony Mignucci of the Manatee Conservation Center of Puerto Rico. We're now back on track to get Victor ready for release back to the wild! <br />
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Jonathan listens to Victor's heart rate while monitoring his breathing (photo courtesy of J. Perez-Rivera)<br />
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Standard measurements and Victor's weight are taken during each health assessment (photo courtesy of J. Perez-Rivera)<br />
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Jonathan watches Victor as he moves through his enclosure, which is now filled with many species of plants that African manatees are known to eat. His diet will now also be supplemented with fruits and vegetables including apples, mango, spinach, cabbage, papaya, bananas, potatoes and avocado, in the hope that this will help him quickly regain weight. (photo courtesy of J. Perez-Rivera)<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18020061000509366476noreply@blogger.com1