A Study Case of Amazonian Calf Interactions Introduction The Amazonian manatee is a very well known and loved species of manatee. Out of all of the Manatee species the Amazonian manatee is the smallest that utilizes only fresh water habitats. It has a fairly limited habitat that falls in the Amazonian Basin 's rives and lakes. They play an important role as a ecosystem primary producer. Unfortunately the species is considered Vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to human interaction. It is difficult to detect them in the wild, so proper observation needs to be conducted in captivity. The purpose of the paper is to better understand and describe the behavior and social standing …show more content…
Iterations with humans were restricted. Which manatee initiated iteration was carefully noted. The space was mentally segmented into eight parts for horizontal use recognition. The position of each individual was recorded each minute. All data was then analyzed in terms of percentages and sums. Frequency was established using the formula, fs = (ns/30)*100 Total bouts were established using the formula, (fe= bouts/30) Day and night analysis were done using the Friedman test. Space preference was established using Shaprio-Wilk test. Overall comparisons were made with the Kruskal-Wallis one way variance. All abnormalities and outliers were examined using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test. All final figures were statistically analyzed with a SigmaPlot. Results The social behaviors that occurred and the researchers observed and recorded were, group resting, synchronized breathing, group feeding, and a strong preference towards shaded areas. The categories of behavior were broken into the following: Synchronized breathing (1 occurrence) Tactile contact (44 occurrences) Affiliative behavior (21 occurrences) Agonistic behavior (5 occurrences) Group feeding (4 occurrences) Group resting (3