There's an interesting article on the BBC News site this week about the mystery of the Amazonian Manatee's migration habits.

Only in recent years did scientists find that the secretive aquatic mammal migrates from shallow to deep water.

Now researchers can reveal that the manatees make this perilous journey to avoid being exposed to attack by predators during the low-water season.

That means the species may be at greater risk than thought, say scientists, as migration and low water levels make them vulnerable to hunters.

The international team of researchers from Brazil and the UK publish their findings in the Journal of Zoology.

Mark Carwardine has posted a blog entry on the BBC Last Chance to See Blog about the Brazilian trip to see the Amazonian Manatees.

Last Chance to See hits our screens this week starting in the Amazon. I was a little apprehensive about this first shoot to be honest. Travelling with Stephen was going to be like travelling with Wikipedia. I remember sending a video blog about this at the time. He's far too unassuming and generous to make anyone feel in any way deficient on purpose, but there's no escaping the fact that he's the kind of person who makes you continually question your own intellect.

BBC2's schedule webpage now confirms that episode 1 of the Last Chance To See TV series, featuring Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine, is called "Amazonian Manatee", and will air on Sunday, September 6th at 8p.m. For all you UK viewers, enjoy. I've already got the DVD on order for my Region Free player, so I'll be a little behind with any thoughts on the shows.

Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine head to the ends of the Earth in search of animals on the edge of extinction, following the route Mark took 20 years ago with the author Douglas Adams.

They set out to discover how the lugubrious Amazonian manatee, a freshwater mammal, has survived the last two decades, but Stephen breaks his arm deep in the Amazon rainforest.

LivingInPeru.com has a story concerning both Amazonian Manatees and the Pink River Dolphin.

Government authorities in Loreto, Peru's largest and northernmost region, have announced that measures are being and will be taken to protect, care for and preserve the lives of pink dolphins and other mammals in captivity.

It was reported that anyone who had a pink Amazon River dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, or "bufeo colorado” as they are known in Peru, will have 60 days to report to the Regional Production Directorate and explain why the animal is being kept in captivity.

Check out this news page on MarkCarwardine.com which pictures Mark and Stephen Fry down in the Amazon, most likely before Stephen broke his arm in such spectacular fashion.

Mark has joined forces with Stephen Fry to present a new television series about endangered species – as inspired by Mark's travels to almost every country on Earth studying, protecting and photographing wildlife at risk.

The series will include some of the old stars from the best-selling book, Last Chance to See (which he wrote with the late Douglas Adams 20 years ago), and it will introduce us to many new ones that have inevitably joined the ever-expanding cast of endangered species.

Here's an interview with Dr Miriam Marmontel, the conservation scientist who helped save Piti, the baby Amazonian Manatee recently. We covered that story back in early May.

Q: What's the story behind Piti, and how has Dr. Gregory Bossart been able to help?

A: Every year there are a number of cases of orphaned manatees, either because they became entangled in fishing nets or because the mother was killed. They may also be used as bait to attract the mothers for an easier kill. The animals that are rescued by the environmental agency (IBAMA) or donated are usually taken to one of 2 authorized facilities for rehabilitation, in or close to Manaus. However, those facilities are close to their maximum capacity, and they don’t have the policy of releasing animals after a few years (some have been in captivity for 30 years). We feel a need to release those animals as soon as possible, so that they can become part of the genetic pool.

Here's a rare piece of Amazonian Manatee news from Florida's TCPalm.com. It seems that Piti, an orphaned baby manatee was entangled in a net deep in the Brazilian Amazon, when conservationists came to his rescue.

Conservationist Dr. Miriam Marmontel arrived with her team to find the locals had pulled the river animal free using a harpoon to the back.
[...]
The two scientists with a passion for preserving aquatic life collaborated to rehabilitate the manatee named Piti in a fiberglass pool on a houseboat in western Brazil's Tef'é Lake. The plan remains to release him back into the wild this fall.

The BBC reports that Stephen Fry has broken his arm while filming the TV version of Last Chance To See down in Brazil. How terrible, but equally how fabulous that the filming is now well under way. Get well soon Stephen!

A BBC spokesman said Fry was treated at a local hospital before being flown to the US for further treatment and then back to the UK.

He would receive more treatment and hoped to be fully recovered to film later in the year, the spokesman added.
[...]
Fry was on location in Tefe to film the release of an endangered Manatee into the wild.

Here's some interesting news at Wildlife Extra.com about a new dwarf species of Amazonian Manatee discovered by Marc van Roosmalen.

The Amazonian manatee was thought to be the only manatee fully adapted to living in fresh water, until the discovery of the Dwarf manatee, Trichechus Bernardi, or Prince Bernhard’s dwarf manatee.

The story started in September 2002 when Marc van Roosmalen collected a skull of a recently killed adult male. He had to wait for 2 years until he found living proof of the Dwarf manatee, when he was able to study and film a live specimen that was kept in a corral in its natural environment for 4 months.
[...]
Dwarf manatees are considered to be critically endangered as they are highly restricted ecologically and geographically. It is thought that there may be less than 100 individuals in this population, and they are not known from any other locality. They are hunted as game, and their habitat is highly susceptible to illegal mining of gravel and gold, timber extraction and commercial fishing.

France24.com has a news update on the status of the Amazonian Manatee. The article covers the work being done by Brazilian conservationists who are looking to reintroduce Manatees into the wild. The National Amazon Research Institute have 36 manatees in captivity, all of them captured as babies after being discarded by hunters. Their ultimate plan will be to release as many as half of them back into the wild in the coming years.

In February 2008 scientists at the National Amazon Research Institute (INPA) plan to take the two manatees (Trichechus inungis) and drop them into the Rio Cuieiras, a tributary of the Rio Negro, where researchers hope they will seek out females and begin repopulating the area.
[...]
Despite being protected, the manatee population of the vast Amazon has steadily fallen with habitat loss, slow reproduction -- females give birth only once every two years and to only one offspring -- and due to hunting by people who eat the huge, sluggish fresh-water mammal.

The BBC has news that the Brazilian government has given the initial go-ahead for the construction of two hydro-electric dams on the Madeira River, the biggest tributary of the Amazon. The impact to the Amazonian environment is bound to be enormous if the project runs through to completion. Full story.

The Madeira River projects have divided opinion even within government and in recent years have been one of the most environmentally sensitive issues.

The river is said to have one of the most diverse fish stocks in the world.

Environmentalists fear they could be threatened by the development of the dams costing billions of dollars.

Cincinnati.com has an article on The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium about Manatees.

At its enclosed Manatee Coast and Discovery Reef exhibit, visitors learn about ocean reef ecosystems, the colorful fish that inhabit them, and the endangered manatee - thought to be the mythical creature of mermaid lore, as spun by old-world mariners.

The zoo's goal is to present the animals in exhibits that best mimic the natural environs in which they live, and warm-water enclosures house the manatees, unicorn tangs and other aquatic creatures on display.
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Since the exhibit opened in 1999, zoo visitors have contributed more than $40,000 to manatee conservation. These donations have supported research and conservation programs for manatees in the United States, Belize, Brazil and Colombia.

If you'd like to get up close and personal with an Amazonian Manatee, why not explore vacation opportunities in the region. Sani Lodge in north-eastern Ecuador looks like a wonderful place to experience the wildlife of the rainforest.

Deep within the Ecuadorian Amazon you will find a mysterious lake called Challuacocha, where floating water hyacinths and grasses obscure the shores. And if you venture out on this lagoon in a dug out canoe early in the morning when it is quiet and the light is still low, you just might see, somewhere out there, lying hidden in the vegetation a rare and wild Manatee or Anaconda. Float here for a while, scanning the horizon and you would probably notice the yellow, banded chest of an Aracari or hear the hoarse whisper of the Hoatzin. Eventually, the day would pass and you could peer out across the shimmering, black water towards the setting sun, and almost certainly see the gleaming orange eyes of the Black Caiman. Come to Challuacocha and feel the mystery. Come to Challuacocha and experience the world of Sani Lodge.

To the north of Challua lies the massive Cuyobeno Reserve and along the southern border stretches the vast Yasuni National Park. In the corridor between, located on 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of untouched rainforest lies Sani Lodge, a unique Ecuador eco-lodge. Here, the biodiversity will amaze you! On your adventure, you will walk through a pristine rainforest gallery that is home to 1,500 species of trees, hundreds of climbing vines, and exotic flowers, as well as 550 species of tropical birds, 13 species of monkeys and 1,000 beautiful butterflies.