By Dan McCue - Press Journal staff writer August 24, 2001 - FORT PIERCE - For Gregory D. Bossart of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, a journey this week to a tropical rain forest in Belize was one part house call and one part conservation outreach effort. That's why, after a flight from Miami and a 2 1/2-hour Jeep ride into the jungle, the doctor of veterinary medicine found himself waist-deep in an isolated lagoon. Bossart's principal task was to do pre-release physical exams on "Woody" and "Hercules," two orphaned manatee calves that next week are scheduled to become the first-ever Antillean manatees to be treated and released in Central America. "I've been involved with these manatees for about a year-and-a-half, at the behest of the Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority, which is an agency much like our Department of Interior," Bossart said upon his return. Bossart said the rescue and rehabilitation of the pair similar, but distinct cousins of the Florida manatee were an unexpected by-product of a larger research project by the government of Belize and the nonprofit Wildlife Trust. Joining him for the exams, which proved easier to schedule than to conduct, were his wife, Jennifer Bossart, a surgical nurse, and Rene Varela, Harbor Branch's first post-doctoral fellow. On Tuesday, James Powell, director of aquatic programs for the Wildlife Trust, described the larger project and how Bossart's work fit into it. "Our comprehensive project got under way in November 1997 with the overall objective being to learn more about manatees in the tropics, where they are less impacted by human disturbances than here in Florida," Powell said. "A big part of that research to date has been using radio and satellite tracking to get a better handle on manatee life cycles and biology," he said. "For instance, one thing we've learned is that, left undisturbed, manatees move about very little: Three of the large females we've been studying from the beginning have lived in the same lagoon for three years." "Florida manatees, by comparison, move around a lot," Powell said. Researchers from Wildlife Trust also have been examining manatee reproduction habits, particularly as they relate to changes in their environment. When two other baby manatees were found abandoned by their mothers and near death, the government of Belize turned to Bossart, who had just joined Harbor Branch's staff as director of marine mammal research and conservation. The Fort Pierce educational facility has long had an international outreach program, a program Bossart said "not only helps animals but helps people help animals." In addition to its activities in Belize, Harbor Branch's conservation program is engaged in manatee rescue efforts in Mexico, Guyana, and the Colombian and Brazilian Amazon. "When I first traveled to Belize, both of these baby manatees had very serious medical problems, and the Wildlife Trust program wasn't geared toward long-term treatment and release," Bossart said. Upon his arrival last weekend, Bossart found the two manatees in the peak of health and so frisky that it took local villagers an entire afternoon to capture the animals and get them to their "doctor's appointment." The release of the two manatees, likely to be early next week, will be a "soft release," Powell said. A large gate dividing the lagoon into a medical holding pen will be opened, and Woody and Hercules will come and go as they please. "In fact, this has kind of occurred once already," Powell said. "Both manatees recently let themselves out of their pen - escaped really - but returned on their own." The manatees will be released at Powell's study site along the lagoon, so researchers can keep an eye on them and make sure they continue to thrive. "It's very exciting when marine mammals can be released back into the wild, but despite their medical clearance, we still don't know what will ultimately happen with these animals," Powell said. "You have to remember, these manatees were bottle-fed for a long time, and before they go on their way, we want to make sure they don't keep approaching humans for handouts," Bossart added.