manatee

Manatee in the Bonaire National Marine Park

On July 10^th, STINAPA ranger Luigi Eybrecht filmed a West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) swimming in the Bonaire National Marine Park. This very well may be the first confirmed sighting of a manatee in Bonaire. Manatees are harmless marine mammals, also called sea cows, that feed on marine plants including seagrass, algae and even mangrove leaves. It is believed that they frequented these waters hundreds of years ago, but due to population declines, are seldom seen in current times. The West Indian manatee subspecies is endangered with an estimated population of 2500 mature individuals, although very little is known about their population and distribution.

We discuss the significance of two manatee records for the Dutch Windward Islands (Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten) as well as six manatid and one crocodile record for the Dutch Leeward Islands (Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire). The persistence of the manatee in the Lesser Antilles until the early 17th century suggests that in pre-Columbian times manatees would have also occurred regularly in the Dutch Windward Islands. In pre-Columbian times, suitable habitat for the American crocodile was sufficient in the Dutch Leeward Islands to have supported small resident populations, and habitat for the manatee was possibly also present. Both species have been widely hunted by early humans and we surmise that small, isolated populations of these species could easily have been extirpated in the Dutch Leeward Islands well prior to European colonization. However, two manatee sightings with the last five years, suggest that these islands may somehow still form part of the active range of this rare and elusive species.