Amidst the green trees and the birdsong, four Amazonian manatees rest in clean water tanks, under the attentive care of the team at the Centro de Triagem e Reabilitação de Animais Silvestres (Cetras) [Wildlife Triage and Rehabilitation Center] at the Federal Rural University of the Amazon (Ufra) in Belém. Each of these calves has been rescued from the brink of death and each has its own story of fighting for survival. They are the first of their kind to be taken in by the project, which has been operating for 13 years and has already cared for over five thousand animals.
The first manatee received at the center was Edinho, rescued in 2023, in the municipality of Santa Bárbara, in the Metropolitan Region of Belém. In 2024, Francisquinho, from Santarém, and Serginho, from Monte Alegre, arrived — both in western Pará. The most recent manatee is Pedrinho, rescued in 2025, in Oriximiná, also in the western Pará, thanks to the work of the [Instituto Igarapé Nhamundá] Igarapé Nhamundá Institute.
Each animal is a survivor of threats that put the species at risk of extinction. “Manatees reproduce very slowly. A female can take more than four years to deliver another calf, as they nurse babies for around two and two and a half years. Furthermore, over the decades, we have killed them in large numbers, whether through hunting, oil or accidents. And the challenges continue: this year alone, Pará has already recorded more than ten cases of strandings and rescues,” explains professor and veterinarian Ana Silvia Ribeiro, coordinator of Cetras/Ufra.
CARE
For the researcher, caring for these animals also means caring for the Amazon and people. “Pedrinho, for example, still sucks his own fin as if he were breastfeeding from his mother. These are emotional signs that also require care and attention,” explains Ana Silvia Ribeiro, while preparing a bottle, which is offered submerged in water or in the traditional way (given directly into the mouths of the manatee babies).
The diet is a mix of lactose-free milk, oats, cornmeal and mineral supplements. Over the course of five meals a day, they also consume aquatic leaves, as well as kale and caruru. The goal is to prepare them for their return to their natural habitat as soon as possible. Judging by their appetite, we can say they are on the right track: they consume everything in seconds.
But the path until they are released into the wild is still long. They need to be weaned - which occurs between two and two and a half years of age - and reach at least 70 kilos. Then, they go through a pre-release phase, carried out in prepared areas in the municipalities of Santarém and Soure, where they learn to deal with the tides and local vegetation and gain autonomy before their definite release. These stages are essential to guarantee the survival of the animals in their natural habitat.
With such resilience, the Amazon manatee, the smallest among the manatees in the world, has become a symbol of the fight for the region's fauna. While the Cetras quartet is prepared to return to the wild, a task force involving universities, riverside communities, public agencies and civil society organizations is also acting on their behalf.
In the state of Pará, the rescue and rehabilitation of these mammals involve an articulated network that unites science, public management and traditional knowledge. Talita Praxedes, manager of fauna, aquaculture and fisheries at the Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade (Semas) [State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability], explains that the department works in partnership with Cetras/Ufra, the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama) [Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources], the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) [Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation] and the Secretaria de Segurança Pública e Defesa Social (Segup) [Secretariat for Public Security and Social Defense], among others.
“In the period from 2023 to 2025, we participated in the rescue of around 25 manatees in the state, mainly in the regions of Baixo Amazonas and Marajó”, emphasizes Talita. The main threats include illegal hunting, accidental capture in fishing nets (the so-called gillnets) and the impacts of climate change. “It is a docile species that does not run away from humans, which makes it vulnerable to hunting and trafficking. And climate change is also cruel: prolonged drought reduces river levels, leaving the animals more exposed,” she explains.
In addition to rescues, Semas invests in environmental education with a focus on communities. “We have been working to ensure that riverside residents become knowledge disseminators, participating in the protection of manatees and other species,” she says.
ACTIONS
To complete the integration, a manatee rescue on March 24, 2022 on the banks of the Nhamundá stream, Oriximiná, marked the beginning of a new stage in the protection of the species in the region. A group of residents found a baby manatee tied by its fins, about to be sold. “We managed to save it. That day, we understood that we needed to organize ourselves in a structured way to confront this type of crime,” recalls Maria Cristina Andrade, president of the Igarapé Nhamundá Institute. The animal was named Gutão and its rescue inspired the creation of the entity.
Now, the Institute recognized as a public utility by the state government, operates in a floodplain territory with around 1,300 families organized in Fishing Agreements. The rescue of Gutão, who remains in the organization, also motivated the creation of Law No. 10,322/2024, which established the Dia Estadual de Preservação do Peixe-boi da Amazônia [State Day for the Preservation of the Amazon Manatee], celebrated on March 24.
The organization is currently monitoring five rescued calves and they receive direct support from local communities. “Residents report incidents, participate in rescues and help with daily care,” explains Maria Cristina.
The coordinator of Cetras Ana Silvia Ribeiro emphasizes: “Community involvement is urgent. They know the cycles of the forest and the rivers and are essential for the successful preservation of the species”.
ARTICULATIONS
Emerson Carvalho, a family farmer and extractivist from the Casinha community, in Lago do Sapucuá, in Oriximiná, is one of the residents involved in the rescues and popular mobilization. “What touched me most was the contact with the calves: seeing how gentle and vulnerable they were, as if they wanted to thank us for the rescue,” he says, emotionally.
Besides helping transport the calves to the appropriate agencies, Emerson also politically coordinates base actions. “It’s sad to see so many orphaned calves because their mothers were killed. It’s revolting. But it also motivates me to continue. I’ve always been doing this work; I learned from my parents to defend the fauna and flora. Now we have the support of the Nhamundá Institute, Semas and the Military Police. When the State is present with us, it gives us more strength to move forward,” he concludes.
Schools in the region also participate in the Institute's educational activities. “Taking children and teachers to see a manatee changes everything. Many ones had never seen this animal before,” says Maria Cristina.
For her, the manatee is a symbol and agent of ecological balance. “It helps to keep the creeks navigable and oxygenated, benefiting the entire ecosystem. The fight began with Gutão, but it continues with each rescued baby manatee, each child made aware. And we are not alone,” emphasizes the president of the organization.
In Amazonas, seven manatee calves were rescued between January and April of this year by the Peixe-Boi Project, from the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (Inpa/MCTI) [National Institute for Amazonian Research], in partnership with the Associação Amigos do Peixe-Boi (AMPA) [Manatee Friends Association]. The number represents almost half of the expected annual total.
Most were found alone, victims of hunting or accidental gillnetting. “Hunters kill the mother, leaving the calf an orphan. Since it is breastfed until it is two years old, it does not survive. If society does not change its attitude, the species could become extinct,” warns INPA researcher Vera da Silva, who coordinates the project.
MONITORING
In addition to rehabilitation, the work includes releasing and monitoring the animals in protected areas, such as the Piagaçu-Purus Reserve, where five manatees were returned to the wild last month. The monitoring is done by trained former hunters. “When riverine people learn about manatees and follow them closely, they become protectors of nature,” says Vera.
Created in 1974, the Project receives support from the SeaWorld Conservation Fund to carry out management, rehabilitation, release and monitoring actions. The goal is to return at least ten animals to the wild by 2026.
ECOLOGICAL ROLE
The manatee is an aquatic, herbivorous mammal with a calm behavior. In Brazil, there are two native species: the “peixe-boi da Amazônia” (Trichechus inunguis), which inhabits rivers in the Amazon basin, and the “peixe-boi-marinho” (Trichechus manatus), which lives on the country's coast.
The “peixe-boi da Amazônia” is the smallest of the species, measuring up to 2.75 meters and weighing 420 kilos. With a grayish coloration and light spots on its belly, it migrates between floodplains and deep canals during the floods and droughts. It consumes about 8% of its weight per day in more than 50 species of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants.
This consumption is essential for the balance of the rivers: it prevents excess vegetation, which could reduce oxygen in the water and kill other species. “The absence of the manatee could cause an ecological collapse,” emphasizes Ana Silvia Ribeiro. “It sustains entire niches of life,” adds the Ufra researcher.
Despite so many benefits, the species is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The population is in decline, although precise data are incomplete due to the difficulty of monitoring it in its habitat. “The disappearance of the manatee affects the entire ecological chain around it. We cannot let this happen,” concludes the Cetras coordinator.
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The production of Liberal Amazon is one of the initiatives of the Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Liberal Group and the Federal University of Pará. The articles involving research from UFPA are revised by professionals from the academy. The translation of the content is also provided by the agreement, through the research project ET-Multi: Translation Studies: multifaces and multisemiotics.
