An aquarium in Singapore has sent a pair of Manatees to the island of Guadeloupe, a French territory in the Caribbean Sea.  It's believed to be the world's first manatee re-population program.

The big, buoyant boys are named Junior and Kai.  Scientists chose them because they are best buds - almost inseparable -  in their previous home at River Safari, a Singapore-based zoo and aquarium.  They're also sexually mature, and it is hoped they will find new girlfriends in the Grand Cul-de-sac Marin, where the National Park of Guadeloupe is heading a re-population project.

Manatees are listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.  Their numbers have been declining over the past century because of hunting, collisions with motorboats, and getting caught in fishing nets.  West Indian or Antillean manatees were hunted into extinction in Guadeloupe more than a century ago.  More recently, their cousins in Florida have run into a deadly problem with toxic algae running into the ocean from a polluted lake.