Steller's sea cow: the first historical extinction of marine mammal at human hands | Natural History Museum

Long-term decline in Great Barrier Reef dugong populations confirmed

A new report from James Cook University (JCU) TropWATER reveals a long-term decline in dugong populations along the Great Barrier Reef, spanning from Mission Beach to Bundaberg, and Hervey Bay in the Great Sandy Strait.

Study identifies boat strikes as a growing cause of manatee deaths in Belize

The endangered Antillean manatee faces a growing threat from boat strikes in Belize, according to a new study that raises concerns about the survival of what had been considered a relatively healthy population.

Manatee winter deaths in Florida's Brevard County plunge—which could portend trouble

The winter killing season for manatees along Central Florida's Atlantic coast is winding down with an astounding turn of events—a tiny fraction of the animals died compared to during the last two years.

The gentle dugong's two sets of companions... | The Kid Should See This

Dugongs are 2.5 to 3-meter (8 to 10-foot) long marine mammals, gentle sirenians that graze the coastal seagrass meadows of the Indian and Pacific oceans.

800 Florida manatees died in 2022 as starvation lingers—but most survived red tide

For the second year in a row, more Florida manatees died than normal as the species battles a human-caused seagrass famine.

Acoustic methods improve the detection of the endangered African manatee

The African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) is an elusive, data-deficient, and endangered species which inhabits marine and freshwater systems throughout Western and Central Africa. A major challenge in understanding the species ecology and distribution is the difficulty in detecting it using traditional visual surveys. The recent invasion of Giant Salvinia (Salvinia molesta) at the most important site for the species in Cameroon further limits their detectability and may restrict their movements and habitat use. To investigate methods’ effectiveness in detecting African manatees, we conducted monthly vessel surveys from which visual point scans, 360° sonar scans, and passive acoustic monitoring were conducted simultaneously at ten locations and over 12 months in Lake Ossa, Cameroon. Manatee detection frequency was calculated for each method and the influence of some environmental conditions on the methods’ effectiveness and manatee detection likelihood was assessed by fitting a binary logistic regression to our data. Detection frequencies were significantly different between methods (p < 0.01) with passive acoustics being the most successful (24.17%; n = 120), followed by the 360° sonar scan (11.67%; n = 120), and the visual point scan (3.33%; n = 120). The likelihood of detecting manatees in Lake Ossa was significantly influenced by water depth (p = 0.02) and transparency (p < 0.01). It was more likely to detect manatees in shallower water depths and higher water trans...

Manatee die-off season looms as trial of feeding them lettuce begins again

When the state's wildlife department flung the first handful of lettuce to a starving manatee in the Indian River a year ago, it was an act of desperation driven by a catastrophic die-off and violating an environmental golden rule that animal behavior should not be messed with that way.