Abstract
A detailed, observational study was done on a Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The study focuses on comparing Inigo's behaviors to eight other manatees, current and previous, in rehabilitation at the zoo. The manatees, or study subjects, were observed through observational sessions using a computer program called ZooMonitor. The ZooMonitor data was used to create activity budgets for each observed behavior. With this, a detailed manatee ethogram was developed for ZooMonitor to improve wellness observations on manatees in rehabilitation. While most manatees exhibited abnormal behaviors in rehabilitation such as abnormal swimming, rolling and curling, Inigo had a higher occurrence of tilting behaviors compared to the other manatees . Due to ZooMonitor changing, Inigo was the only one with data for lap-like behavior. The amount of time Inigo exhibited lap- like behavior was not correlated with the time over the course of his rehabilitation, time of day, or number of respirations. The reason for Inigo's abnormal swimming behavior and lap-like swimming behavior was not determined in this study; however other studies on manatees suggest that lap-like behavior could be a stereotypical behavior or related to lack of stimulation. Human bias and the changes made to ZooMonitor over the study period may sources of error as some behaviors may be interpreted differently by each observer and with each change in the program.To limit these sources of error in future studies, an updated ethogram has been created to provide additional behaviors and more specific descriptions to limit bias and improve future manatee behavioral research.