A manatee (Trichechus manatus) that has been living since Oct. 13 at the Bararida Park Zoo in Barquisimeto, in west-central Venezuela, is the third member of this endangered species to be born in captivity in South America. Two of the three have been born in Venezuela, and the third in Brazil. There are a number of specimens now living in captivity in Mexico.

Manatees, sometimes called sea cows, are large herbivorous marine mammals that can weigh up to 600 kilos. They are considered an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

"This is an important achievement considering our modest resources, and the fact that this sea mammal that lives on the coasts and in large rivers in the American tropics has been listed as an endangered species by CITES since 1992," Esmeralda Mujica, the president of the Venezuelan Association of Zoos and Aquariums, told Tierramérica.

Two centuries ago, Alexander von Humboldt described the abundance of manatees in the rivers of the Orinoco and Amazon basins. Today they have been reduced to small groups.