Amazonian manatees are an elusive species inhabiting the murky depths of the Amazon Rainforest’s rivers and lakes. They were able to endure the high temperatures of 2023’s historic drought that killed hundreds of river dolphins, but the low water levels posed a different danger. With less water to hide in, these mammals that can weigh up to half a ton become exposed to poachers who ramp up hunting during the dry season, killing manatees for their meat and further threatening the already vulnerable population. “The drought represents an increase in the opportunities hunters have,” Anselmo d’Affonseca, a veterinarian at the Aquatic Mammals Laboratory (LMA) at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), told Mongabay. “Hunting is and always has been a very worrying factor with a major impact on the manatees.” Hunting of Amazonian manatees (Trichechus inunguis) was banned nearly 60 years ago due to a significant population decline caused by the annual killing of 4,000 to 7,000 individuals between 1934 and 1954. Although younger generations in riverside communities have increasingly lost cultural ties to manatee meat, which has reduced demand, hunting remains a major threat that’s exacerbated by droughts, Mariana Paschoalini Frias, a conservation analyst at WWF-Brasil and coordinator of the South American River Dolphin Initiative, told Mongabay. Manatee meat is “highly appreciated” in some parts of the Amazon Rainforest, according to d’Affonseca, and hunting presents an opportunity to make money; a typical manatee will yield two-thirds of its weight in meat. Law enforcement has mostly curtailed open trade…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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