CASE REPORT article
Front. Ethol.
Sec. Social Behavior and Communication
Case Report: Agonistic interaction between Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) and Tucuxi dolphins (Sotalia fluviatilis) in Brazil
Provisionally accepted
Layse Albuquerque1,2,3*
Karen Lucchini2,4,5Matheus L. Soares2Daniel L. Z. Kantek2
Fernanda Loffler Niemeyer Attademo6Bruna Bezerra4,5Fábia O. Luna2- 1Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- 2Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Mamíferos Aquáticos, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservacao da Biodiversidade, Brasília, Brazil
- 3Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução da Biodiversidade, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul- PUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- 4Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Centro de Biociências, Departamento de Zoologia, Recife, Brazil
- 5Laboratório de Ecologia, Comportamento e Conservação, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
- 6Universidade Federal Rural do Semiárido/UFERSA, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Animal/PPGCA, Mossoró, Brazil
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Background: Interspecific interactions play an important role in shaping ecological relationships, yet descriptions of social interspecific interactions in aquatic mammals remain scarce. Here, we describe a rare agonistic interspecific interaction between Tucuxi dolphins (Sotalia fluviatilis) and an Amazonian manatee calf (Trichechus inunguis) in Brazil, which resulted in the death of the manatee. Such records are unique and contribute to the understanding of behavioral repertoires of aquatic mammals. Case presentation: On April 12th, 2004, an Amazonian manatee calf was rescued by local fishermen in Macapá, Amapá State, Brazil, after being attacked by Tucuxi dolphins. The calf was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but its condition deteriorated. On April 22nd, the animal died, and necropsy revealed external cone-shaped marks consistent with dolphin bites, internal thoraco-abdominal trauma, intestinal rupture, and pulmonary edema. Histopathological analyses indicated neurogenic shock as the cause of death. Conclusion: This is the first documented case of aggression of Tucuxi dolphins towards an Amazonian manatee. The record highlights the importance of monitoring interspecific interactions in overlapping habitats and contributes to the scarce literature on cetacean-sirenian interactions.
Keywords: aggressive behavior, Aquatic mammals, case report, interspecific interaction, Social Behavior
Received: 02 Oct 2025; Accepted: 29 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Albuquerque, Lucchini, Soares, Kantek, Attademo, Bezerra and Luna. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Layse Albuquerque
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