Dugong

Dugong dugon

Description

Length
3m
Weight
450 kg
Lifespan
70 years

Resembling an overweight dolphin and referred to as a sea cow, the dugong is actually more closely related to the elephant. The dugong’s elongated snout faces downwards and its enormous, bristly upper lip is mobile. A heavy skeleton helps it stay down while feeding. The dugong has an extraordinarily long intestine—up to 30 metres — because its seagrass diet is hard to digest.

Diet and habitat

Dugongs feed almost exclusively on seagrass and eat up to 50kg per day. While dugongs are the world’s only herbivorous marine mammal, they occasionally eat molluscs and crustaceans. They live in warm, shallow waters with extensive seagrass meadows like those of Shark Bay .

Breeding

Gestation
14 months
No. young
1
Weaned
18 months

Females calve from 12–17 years of age. A female may have one calf every three to seven years. Newborn calves are pale brown, just over a metre long, and weigh up to 35kg. Calves can swim as soon as they are born and may stay with their mothers for two years or more. They swim just above her back and communicate with chirps, squeaks and trills.

Distribution

Dugongs are found between 26º north and south of the Equator. The 10,000 or more dugongs in Shark Bay make up about 10% of the world’s dugong population and they breed in the eastern part of Shark Bay.

Status

Dugongs are considered globally vulnerable to extinction. Greatest threats are loss of seagrass beds due to climate change, development and pollution.

Fact sheet

SHARK BAY

World Heritage

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