Senegal Tagged Manatee UpdateAs some of you will recall, last January I satellite tagged three manatees in eastern Senegal as part of a multi-agency group that rescued them from tributaries where they were trapped behind dams (See posting from 1/31/09). We released the manatees back...Read More

Thanks Angola folks!!It's been great working with both the WCS folks (Tim, Sal, Howard, Angela, Betania & Antonio) and the Angola LNG Team. Thanks to them we were able to do the first manatee surveys in the lower Congo River. So thanks to Sheryl, Geoff,...Read More

HarpoonsLast August when I came to Soyo I learned that the only manatee hunter for the area, Mr. Domingos, had died a week before I arrived. I visited his village on that trip and found four manatee harpoons there. Since then I’ve been working to...Read More

Congo River DaysOn Tuesday we boated 40km up the Congo River from the mouth, to several tributaries where I have been on previous trips and interviewed villagers about manatees. Accompanying me was Tim B. (the Angola LNG wildlife specialist), Wilson (a translator since I don’t...Read More

Angola Trip #3It’s been almost a year since I’ve been here in Soyo, so it’s interesting to be back. It takes the better part of 2 days to get here; I flew from Tampa to Houston, spent the night, then flew from Houston directly to...Read More

Looking forward...Read More

Wildlife Trust highlights my African work...Read More

The University of Florida has awarded me a 4 year stipend and tuition coverage for my PhD work on West African manatees! I'm really excited and a bit overwhelmed by this generous award. It will certainly help ease the burden of my fundraising efforts so...Read More

Disney comes through again!! I recently received word that the Disney Conservation Fund has awarded me another year of funding! This news could not have come at a better time. This money will allow me to focus both on manatee behavioral and baseline health research...Read More

Mamiwata art exhibition

(painting by Moyo Ogundipe, 1999, image courtesy of NY Times)

Aside from real manatees, I'm also fascinated by the Mamiwata spirit that many people believe is embodied by the manatee. Mamiwata is depicted as a woman, mermaid, seductess, even women's labor union organizer...Read More