Have you ever heard of the dugong? You're about to! These absolutely amazing creatures are related to manatees, in the family Sirennia. Sadly, these gorgeous creatures have been hunted for meat, oil, hides, bones, and teeth. They are now endangered in the USA. In Australia these marine mammals' food, sea grass, is being ruined. Without healthy sea grass their immunity goes down. In one place, Moreton Bay, the annual death rate went from two dugong deaths to nineteen dugong deaths! That is atrocious. Yet, even with this dramatic increase in deaths, I am sure you have never heard of the dugong. Maybe two or three, but not the whole class.
Some people would call the dugong weird looking, but I don't agree. If you have ever seen a manatee, imagine something like that. They have two flippers which the calves use to swim. Adults use their tails to swim, and the flippers for steering. They have tusks, so their skulls could be mistaken for that of the walrus. Their turned-down noses are boneless, and make them look slightly pig like. The Lambodana word for dugong translates to "wild pig of coral." They are called sea pigs in other places. Their smooth skin which is cream colored when born, eventually changes to dark gray. The skin has short hairs like some other marine mammals. Adults have ten to fourteen teeth. Their molars to not have roots like ours do. If they were to have bones that were not dense they would float, so they have quite dense bones. Partly because of this, the adults weigh between 230-908 kilograms. Calves weigh only 20-30 kg. Adults are usually 2.4-4 meters whereas calves are only about 110-120 centimeters! Dugongs reach adulthood between nine and ten, but have been known to mature as late as fifteen. Females give birth every three to five years to a single, or occasionally two, calves. The gestation period last for about a year, and the calf can swim immediately.
Dugongs don't have a very varied diet. They usually eat sea grass. These herbivorous creatures have been known, however, to eat algae and crabs. They dig or root for their food, usually, in water one to five meters deep.
Dugongs live in tropical coasts, in water over 28 degrees Celsius. They usually travel in groups of six, and live in waters all over the world. Some places where you might find them include: Australia, Africa, the Indian Sea, the Pacific Ocean, South India, South East Asia, Philippines, Indonesia, and probably else where!
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