The conservation and protection of manatees, Trichechus manatus, has been a growing concern for a number of years. With the increase in annual manatee deaths from urbanization, habitat loss, boating accidents, and entanglement with fishing gear, it is important that rehabilitated manatees thrive upon release back into the wild. Antillean manatees, Trichechus manatus manatus, are an endangered subspecies of the West Indian manatee, with their largest population in Belize. The proposed study seeks to analyze factors related to manatee movement patterns: benthic vegetation (primarily seagrasses), freshwater sites, salinity, water temperature, and water depth to determine which, if any, is strongly correlated with site visitation frequency. Introduction The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) is an endangered subspecies of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) that is found in southern Central America and the Caribbean (Olivera-Gómez & Mellink, 2004, González-Socoloske et al., 2011). According to recent …show more content…
As herbivores, manatees are important in determining the health of an ecosystem (Allen, 2014). Often times the lack of suitable habitat and funds makes it difficult to reintroduce captive animals back into the wild (Normande et al., 2014). Examining resource use and exploratory patterns during the soft release phase aids in determining whether an animal is ready to be released back into the wild after rehabilitation. It can also be used to evaluate reintroduction success (Richardson et al., 2013). During the soft release phase, the manatee receives limited support, shelter, and food from caretakers until the individual is entirely self-sufficient. Once the manatee reaches that point, the rehabilitation team prepares for its release back into the