West Indian manatees in Brazil 945
range size between males and females in Brazil. Flamm et al. (2005) described manatee movement patterns in Florida for solitary males, solitary females and females with calves; they found that males had significantly higher movement rates than both categories of females. The search for receptive fe- males has been suggested as a probable reason for the great- er distances travelled by males (Deutsch et al., 2003), and this may maximize their individual reproductive success (Castelblanco-Martínez et al., 2012). Astro and Tita were the only individuals not recorded to
interact with other native or released manatees. Astro used the coasts of Sergipe and Bahia, where manatees occurred historically. Considering the presence of other manatees in the estuary of the Mamanguape River (da Silva et al., 2011), it is likely that Tita did interact with other manatees, but we did not record this. All animals evaluated adapted to life in the wild and were considered successful releases, according to the Brazilian Manatee Reintroduction Protocol (de Lima et al., 2007; Normande et al., 2015; Adimey et al., 2016). Success in the rescue and release process requires long-term, continuous monitoring with the support of veterinary interventions whenever necessary, use of monitoring systems with accu- rate transmission of geographical coordinates, and releas- ing animals up to 5 years of age (Normande et al., 2015). Additionally, it is important to engage local communities, especially fishers, in the participatory monitoring of ani- mals, both in reporting manatee occurrence and recovering lost transmitters. Tita, Yara and Zelinha remained throughout the entire monitoring period in the estuary of the Mamanguape River, where they re-adaptated in captivity (enclosures inside estuaries), demonstrating the importance of this step to post-release success. According to de Lima & de Passavante (2013), a site can be considered to have fulfilled its function as a temporary adaptation area when the animals use the surrounding region for a time after their release;when released manatees immediately move away from the site, it means it had no influence on the adaptation process. In Brazil, one of the goals of the reintroduction pro-
gramme is to restock areas of historical occurrence (Normande et al., 2016). Thiswas achieved by Astro, making the states of Sergipe and Bahia the current southernmost distribution limit of the species. The identification of spatio-temporal patterns of habitat
use by manatees, the mapping of intensely used areas and the evaluation of the adaptation of released animals to life in the wild provide important data that can assist protected area managers in defining priority areas for conservation. The information will contribute to the Management Plan for the Mamanguape River Environmental Protection Area through regulation of coastal development and activities such as fishing, boat traffic and tourist activities. The data, whichwere sharedwith the relevant government institutions,
will also contribute to the National Action Plan for the Con- servation of Manatees (ICMBio, 2011).
Acknowledgements We thank the Aquatic Mammal Foundation for logistical and technical support; the Graduate Program in Ecology and Environmental Monitoring and the Cartography and Geoprocessing Lab-UFPB for scientific and academic support; Environmental Protection Areas of Costa do Corais and the Mamanguape River, the National Research and Conservation Center for Marine Biodiversity of the Northeast/ICMBio for support with field work; Nortronic for technical assistance with transmitters; James Reid, Susan Butler, Robert Bonde (U.S. Geological Survey/ Sirenia Project) for their support and cooperation; the Long Live the Manatee project of the Aquatic Mammal Foundation, the Petro- bras Socioenvironmental Program and the Manatee Conservation Program of the Aquatic Mammal Foundation in partnership with the Boticário Group Foundation for the Conservation of Nature (Fundação Grupo Boticário de Conservação à Natureza) for funding; and the anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Author contributions Study design: SSdS, VAR, MM, JCGB; con- tribution to the manufacture of the tagging accessories: SSdS, ICN; development of the radio transmitters and assistance in their use: JPD, JEM, RDC, REGdS, JCGB; fieldwork: SSdS, VAR, AOBC, IdSM, TMGV; data analysis and writing: SSdS, ICN, IdSM, MM, JCGB; revision: all authors.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards This research was carried out under ICMBio/ SISBio (Biodiversity Authorization and Information System) permits #25820 and #54205 and otherwise abided by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards.
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Oryx, 2022, 56(6), 939–946 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060532100079X
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