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A full health assessment was conducted on a nine-and-a-half-foot adult male manatee named Kottke on April 30, 2025 at Cumberland Island, Georgia through the collaborative effort between Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute (CMARI), Georgia Aquarium (GAI), Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) and many other partners.

A ten-and-a-half-foot adult male manatee named Trucks was located and tagged on April 30, 2024 at Cumberland Island, Georgia through the collaborative effort between Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute (CMARI), Georgia Aquarium (GAQ), Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) and other organizations. Trucks received a full health assessment checkup from GAQ and CMARI veterinarian staff and was outfitted with a GPS satellite tag to closely monitor his travels as part of our manatee Northern Atlantic Coast Manatee Movement study. The project will collect crucial habitat use and health data to help manage threats to manatees that migrate northward into coastal Georgia and the Carolinas during the warmer months of the year. Working in cooperation with state and federal agencies, data collected from this project will also be utilized to gain a better understanding of how manatees are adapting their movement and use of habitat post the loss of food sources along the east coast of Florida which was a major contributing factor to the manatee Unusual Mortality Event in recent years.