NOTES FROM THE
FIELD – WEEK 1:
19-April-2012
At 10:30 am, Rita and Georgie arrived at the Great Harbour
Cay Marina in Bullock’s Harbour on the Atlantis vessel Sea Keeper.
High school students and interested locals had gathered at the marina for this
exciting event. At 11:00 am, Dolphin Cay-Atlantis Animal Rescue Team carefully
lowered Georgie into the water, and then Rita followed as quickly as possible.
Both animals immediately paired up underwater and surfaced swimming towards the
mangroves at the east end of the marina.
During the time of the release, two
male manatees were observed in the marina and later paired up with the tagged
animals. All four manatees were observed socialising as they slowly travelled
out of the marina. Jim Reid (USGS) set up the VHF tracking gear and the
tracking team started to track Rita and Georgie from land.
After a few detours through the
bush, we found all four animals at the northern end of the T-canal; which is a
‘T’ shape cut in the harbour. We observed both males interacting with Rita
while Georgie milled nearby. All four were seen feeding on algae on the canal
wall. We left them at 4:30 PM.
