African Manatees in China

Besides the four in Nanning and Hangzhou, another four are imported to Qingdao Aquarium; and Penglai Aquarium also imported four from Cameroon, but one of them died during the transportion.
 
To bump a slightly old thread, chimelong ocean park also currently keeps African manatees in one of the best exhibits of the facility. Any knowledge on where they are from?
 
Randomname0183 said:
To bump a slightly old thread, chimelong ocean park also currently keeps African manatees in one of the best exhibits of the facility. Any knowledge on where they are from?
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According to CITES trade database, 26 African manatees in total were exported from Africa to China between 2008 and 2016, 18 from Guinea, 6 from Cameroon and 2 from The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Except for two individuals from Cameroon listed as captive specimens, all the other animals are listed as wild-caught.
 
All manatees exported from Africa to Asian aquaria were caught from the wild as there are no manatees in captive facilities in Africa. There are plenty of errors on the public CITES trade database, I've been keeping track of it for years. Three of the Chimelong manatees are likely from Democratic Republic of the Congo, exported illegally in 2019. it's not known where the other 7-8 came from. I believe they have now had 5 calves born there.
 
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