Status of the Amazonian manatee <em>(Trichechus inunguis)</em> in the Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador

Abstract

Amazonian manatees live in black water rivers and lakes in the Amazon basin. A study of Amazonian manatees in the Cuyabeno Reserve conducted by Timm et al. [1] in 1983 gave first information on distribution of manatees in the Cuyabeno Reserve and they sug­gested a possible extinction of the Amazonian Manatee in the following decade. Here I present results of observations, and interviews, realized 13 years after the first study as complementary observations during a research project on Amazon River dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) from 1996 to 1999. We surveyed during more than 127 days covering about 6.175km in manatee habitat with more than 456 hours continuously observing black water rivers and lagoons and we carried out manatee surveys paddling in the Lagunas Grandes de Cuyabeno. Interviews with tour guides, park rangers and native Indians give a complete sighting list for the presence of manatees and insight into the current situation in the Re­serve. The relative abundance of manatees in the Cuyabeno River is 0.01 animals/h effort and even less in the Lagartococha River with 0.007 animals/h effort. Populations in the Lagartococha River seem to be severely reduced. Hunting in both rivers continued despite legal protection with 16 manatees killed from 1995 to 1998. Overall 40 to 49 animals were seen in the Cuyabeno Reserve from 1996 to 1998. Even though, predictions that manatees would be extinct by 1993 were not fulfilled, they are rare in the Reserve and living in a protected area does not necessarily safeguard this species.

Keywords

• Manatí amazónico
• Trichechus inunguis
• estado
• Reserva Cuyabeno
• Ecuador