The Manatee in British Honduras

Abstract

The West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus manatus has declined rapidly in many parts of its range and appears on the IUCN's list of endangered species. But in British Honduras last summer the author found an abundance of manatees all along the coast. Moreover, predation is at a minimum: the people who formerly ate manatee meat now show little interest in it, and the alligator, its only other predator, has been persecuted almost to extinction.