Manatees are turning up dead in rivers in Mexico’s southeastern state of Tabasco, and a hastily assembled network of environmental advocates, academics and government officials is trying to figure out why. The government says at least 37 manatees were found dead in freshwater rivers in the state from May 18 to Aug. 20, largely in an area called Los Bitzales, an extension of the marshy, mangrove-forested Centla Wetlands Biosphere Reserve. Residents there report as many as 70 manatees, nearly double the government’s estimate, have died in local waterways since June, according to Mexico’s Zoo, Nursery and Aquarium Association, a nongovernmental group. Fishermen, academics and government officials say an unusually high number of fish, birds, snakes and alligators have also been found dead in some... [Log in to read more]