AMAZONIAN MANATEE

Inpa and the Manatees

The Brazilian National Institute for Research in the Amazon (Inpa) has the best rehabilitation center for Amazonian manatees in the country, a reference in Brazil in reproduction, recovery, and reintroduction of these animals.

This is only possible due to years of research into the species in captivity, which resulted in a successful protocol for reintroducing the animals into the wild.

In the last eight years (2013-2020), 31 Amazonian manatees were reintroduced, successfully released in a Sustainable Development Reserve in the State of Amazonas - the RDS Piagaçu Purus.

This recognition means that Inpa's rehabilitation center is sought out by other centers in the country, and by environmental agencies to guide the recovery of animals for later return to the natural environment.

The reintroduction of manatees in nature

The origin of the captive manatees is almost entirely, orphancalves that arrive at Inpa due to seizures carried out by the environmental inspection agencies. Unfortunately, despite being threatened and protected by law, these animals continue to be hunted and often arrive at our rehabilitation center having been injured or abused, as calves or adults, with signs of malnutrition, dehydration, or mutilation. Thus, not all rehabilitated manatees are able to return to living in the wild. This has meant that, over the years, there has been an accumulation of animals in captivity, which need to be sheltered in lakes and tanks in conditions that offer them security for a happy life.

The time it takes to care for a healthy (but orphaned) calf, until it is ready for reintroduction, is about 3-4 years. Only after this time will it have a chance to adapt to free-living in the Amazon's rivers and lakes. And reintroduction itself requires a phase of several months of semi-captivity in lakes to acclimate to life in the wild, learning to survive alone, feed on native plants, and get to know the natural environment better, until it is ready for release. The entire process is slow, requires great care from caregivers, and is expensive.

The good news is that, with decades of experience, we can now say that it is possible to successfully reintroduce Amazonian manatees into the wild.

The great flood of 2021

Before the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, at least 12 animals were already being prepared for release, but plans had to be postponed until the conditions of the pandemic allowed for this. As everyone knows, Manaus was one of the world epicenters of the tragedy in death tolls in this pandemic. But to make matters worse, 2021 is experiencing an historic flood, which, at over 30 meters above sea level, surpassed the highest levels ever before measured during the entire 118-year series of annual measurements. With that, the artificial lakes where the group of manatees was waiting to be transferred to the wild were flooded, joining the main channel of the Amazon River. The animals were on the verge of being inadvertently and prematurely released in a place of great risk for their survival, due to the intense boat traffic, strong current, proximity to large urban centers, and the absence of all the protections that their usual release site provides. To avoid this, they were brought back to Inpa's captive facility in Manaus.

With this emergency removal, we now have a serious problem of overcrowding in the already overloaded enclosures of the Inpa rehabilitation center and the acclimation process of reintroduction was set back. And the problems don't stop there.