A species of threatened environmental indicator

2002/02/13 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Ingurumena

Manatees are environmental indicators and research has just shown that they are threatened. The study analysed the evolution of manatee populations and drew conclusions to take into account. The manatees who created the mermaids myth are threatened and their distribution area is decreasing.

These animals are indicators of the environment, and the worsening of their situation reflects the worsening state of the rest of species and habitats.

In the words of Helene Marsh, director of the research, "Manatees have disappeared from some places because they have fled or died." Mauritania, Seychelles, western Sri Lanka, Maldives, some places in Japan, the Pearl RIver estuary of Hong Kong, some Philippine islands, Cambodia and Vietnam are some of these places.

In other places, the population of manatees, although it has not disappeared, has decreased. Exceptions can be Australian waters, the Red Sea, and the Arab Gulf.

Helene Marsh has made a special mention of the serious situation in East Africa and warns that if something is not done soon they will also disappear from it.

This serious state of the population of manatees is due to human pressure. Specifically, the pollution that reaches from the land to the sea, the development on the coast and the traffic of marine animals are responsible.