|aThe manatee scientists : |bsaving vulnerable species / |cby Peter Lourie
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|aBoston : |bHoughton Mifflin, |c2011
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|a80 p. : |bcol. ill., col. maps ; |c24 x 29 cm.
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|aLourie
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|ahlights the work scientists are doing to protect the manatee, an endangered species.
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|aIn The Manatee Scientists, John Reynolds does an aerial count of manatees from the Florida sky; Lucy Keith spends a weekend rescuing manatees trapped in a dam in Senegal; and Fernando Rosas takes the author on an Amazonian boat trip, looking for a young manatee he released back into the wild, with emotional results. These scientists are working hard to save manatees: docile, large sea mammals who are eaten in some parts of the world, feared in others, and adored in still others. But factors such as human encroachment, disease, environmental hazards, and being hunted are causing their numbers to decline: they are an endangered species, in need of help.