First day with Sea to Shore Alliance!
I’m very excited to announce that as of today I am be joining the staff at Sea to Shore Alliance, a non-profit wildlife research organization based in Florida. Sea to Shore’s Director is Dr. James “Buddy” Powell, who has been my manatee mentor since 1998, and my African manatee work follows in the footsteps of Buddy’s ten years of work in Africa in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Buddy also serves on my PhD committee at the University of Florida. I’m very happy to be joining an organization whose mission so closely compliments my work, and I look forward to working with their great team. All of my West African manatee projects will remain the same, and I’ll be continuing my research studying the distribution, genetics, and feeding strategies of this elusive and little-understood species. Additionally, my efforts to build a collaborative regional network for African manatee researchers and to promote educational outreach throughout the range of the species will also continue full speed ahead!
Please note my new professional contact information:
Lucy Keith Diagne
Sea to Shore Alliance
4411 Bee Ridge Road, #490
Sarasota, FL 34233
Check out the Sea To Shore website by clicking here
Dear Lucy, I read your blog with interest. I live and teach Kindergarten in Jos, Nigeria. One of the units I do is on manatees. I just like them and kids are always attracted to them. Then I learned a couple years ago about the West African manatee and am intrigued by the idea that there may be some lurking in Nigerian rivers still. Can you give me any contacts in Nigeria where I might find out where they may still be found? I heard there were "dugongs" in the Panda Wildlife preserve but it seems too far upriver from the sea. Of course, it is probably too polluted near the ocean at this point. Anyway, any information you could give me would be helpful. As part of this unit I try to convey to kids how important it is to steward and protect the environment and water particularly. This is almost unheard of in Nigeria. I find the manatee is a great way to get them personally interested. Thank you,
Meredith DeVoe
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Hi Meredith,
Thanks so much for your interest! I'm going to reply via the email address you sent to me at Sea to Shore…
Cheers, Lucy