STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT AMONG LOCAL INHABITANTS IN THE MIDDLE SOLIMÕES, OCCIDENTAL AMAZONIA, AND ITS USE IN MORPHOMETRICS OF AMAZONIAN MANATEE (<i>Trichechus inunguis<i/> NATTERER, 1883)

Abstract

This study analyzed measurements of Amazonian manatees taken by local people on the middle Solimoes river, converting the length of the inch of local people to the metric system, and verifying the existence of a difference between the value of local men´s inch in metric scale and the international metric standards for the measurement. Field trips were taken to the Mamiraua and Amana reserves, in Central Amazonia, to confirm the use of the inch as a measurement unit. Interviews were applied and the inches of 508 adult males resident in the town of Tefe and in the Mamiraua and Amana reserves were measured. The sample consisted of persons whose experience with manatee capture ranged from three to 43 years. The average value for the local inhabitant inch was 21.71 cm. A Student’s t-test applied to the result demonstrated a highly significant difference in relation to the value of the inch described in the literature. The use of morphometric data contributed by local people, in growth studies of Amazonian manatees must weigh the value of 21.71 cm in the conversion of the local´s inch to the metric scale, considering an error of 0.05 cm for each converted inch measure.