Question:
Why are you releasing the manatees?
Answer:
They have eaten almost all the vegetation in the river,
so everyday food has to be placed into the river; this
is costing a huge sum of money. They are being released
to ease the expenses, and also to give them an opportunity
to mate and produce offspring.
Question:
Can they survive
in the wild?
Answer:
Yes, they can survive in the wild. They existed in the
wild quite fine until they were accidentally caught in
the nets of fishermen.
Question:
What if they die?
Answer: That would not be good at all,
as this would mean that we would be three manatees closer
to the extinction of the Jamaican Manatee. Manatees face
the threat of extinction if each cow produces less than
two fertile offspring.
Question:
Why not bring males in?
Answer: It would
not make any sense to bring in males, because if they
mated, the offspring would not survive; river water is
too cold for manatee babies.
Question:
Have you nothing better to do?
Answer: Well yeah,
but manatee management is pretty cool and interesting!
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