What in the hell is a dugong??

Published Jan 05 2009, 12:04 PM by Lisa Spinelli

Honestly, how many times in your adult life did you ever say, "I never knew that animal existed!" Maybe when you saw a zebroid (half donkey and/or horse with a zebra). But really, take a look at the dugong (below) and tell me, when did you ever hear of or see a picture of this guy?

Front

side view (from worldvoyage.com)

I swear these are real pictures! There are plenty more of them online. Don't feel bad for not having heard about them if you're as shocked as I am! I used to surf, scuba dive and I am rather obsessed with animals and I still had never heard of them before last night.

Some info: Apparently dugongs are the only living representatives of the Dugongidae family, though their cousins the manatees are also related on what biologists call the "order" level. They live off of the coast of 37 different countries and are as big as 660 lbs. They were even mentioned in the Bible as sea cows. Dugongs are total herbivores, really liking a particular type of sea grass, and have distinctive dolphin-like tails. They're hunted for their blubber and meat, but mostly get hurt by natural predators and from boats running into them as they graze in shallow waters.

They are really crazy looking creatures like a cross between an elephant and a manatee, but they're kind of a missing-link cute. The sad part is, of course like everything great and wonderful in the ocean, they are threatened. Their major food source, this supposedly tasty sea grass, is slowly dying off under the thumb of industrial and agricultural waste.

To learn more about the dugong visit the National Geographic site. Go dugong!

Filed Under: animals, ocean, dugong, wildlife

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2 Comments

cselfsullivan said:

Dugongs are awesome creatures in the same "Order Sirenia" as manatees. You can think of manatees and dugongs as being about as closely related as dolphins and whales, which both belong to the "Order Cetacea." However, there are over 75 species of dolphins and whales, but only 4 species of sirenians, more commonly known as sea cows, sea pigs, or sea elephants, depending on where you're from! Like manatees, dugongs are vulnerable to extinction as a result of unsustainable hunting and/or illegal poaching, boat strikes, pollution, and destruction of habitat. Steller's seacow, a close relative to the Indo-Pacific dugong was hunted to extinction in the late 1700s.

Many people are also surprised to learn that there are 3 species of manatees! The Florida manatee is one of two subspecies of the West Indian manatee (the other subspecies is the Antillean or Caribbean manatee). There are also West African manatees and Amazonian manatees. Learn more about all of these elusive, giant, gentle, and endangered "mermaids" at www.sirenian.org.

January 6, 2009 6:48 AM
Lisa Spinelli said:

you really know your dugongs!! Love it! I think they're giant underwater teddy bears and would hate to see them get hunted to extinction like the sea cow. Thanks for sharing!!

January 6, 2009 3:43 PM

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What in the hell is a dugong??

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cselfsullivan said:

Lisa Spinelli said:

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