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"To
waste, to destroy our natural resources,
to skin and exhaust the land instead
of using it so as to increase its
usefulness, will result in undermining
in the days of our children the very
prosperity which we ought by right
to hand down to them amplified and
developed".
US
President Theodore Roosevelt
Seventh Annual Message
3rd December 1907
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Dugong
Common name: Dugong
Scientific name: Dugong dugon
Family: Dugongidae
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Probably
one of the few living sea mammals of all,
dugongs still survive in pockets, all
around the Indian Ocean to the western
parts of the Pacific. Dugongs are large,
grey herbivorous marine mammals, which
spend their entire lives in the sea. They
are the only herbivorous, truly marine
mammals to be found today. Fully grown,
they may be three meters long and weigh
400 kilograms. They have nostrils near
the top of their snouts. Dugongs swim
by moving their broad spade-like tail
in an up and down motion, and by use of
their two flippers. Dugongs' only hair
are the bristles near the mouth. They
have long rotund bodies and tails or flukes
for propulsion. Adult dugongs can reach
lengths of more than
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three
meters and weight up to 420kg. Dugongs
have relatively poor eyesight, so rely
on the sensitive bristles covering the
upper lip of their large snouts to find
and grasp seagrass. They are mostly found
in sheltered lagoons and in shallow, warm
water such as the Gulf of Mannar. Male
dugongs begin to grow tusks between the
ages of 12 and 15 years. If food is plentiful,
the habitat protected, and predation low,
dugongs may live more than 70 years. Cows
and calves communicate by producing 'chirps'.
Dugongs are slow moving and have little
protection against predators. Young dugongs
hide behind their mothers when in danger.
Habitat
Some dugongs remain in the shallow Gulf
of Mannar. They are highly migratory are
also found in other parts of the Indian
and Pacific Oceans in warm shallow seas
where seagrass is found.
Shelter
Dugongs are usually found in shallow
waters protected from large waves and
storms. They surface only to breathe,
and never come on to land.
Breeding
Female dugongs give birth underwater to
a single calf at three to seven year intervals.
The calf stays with its mother, drinking
milk from her teats and following close
by until one or two years of age. Dugongs
reach adult size between 9 and 17 years
of age. Male dugongs begin to grow tusks
between the ages of 12 and 15 years. If
food is plentiful, the habitat protected,
and predation low, dugongs may live more
than 70 years.
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Diet
Also known as "Sea Cows", dugongs
feed in the seagrass beds of the Indo-Pacific.
These marine plants look like grass growing
on a sandy sea floor in shallow, warm
water. Dugongs need to eat large amounts
of seagrass.
Dugongs
Under Threat
Dugongs are presently considered endangered
in India and Sri Lanka. Internationally,
dugongs are listed on Appendix I
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of the
Conservation of International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES), and on Appendix
II of the Convention on Migratory Species
(the CMS). India is a signatory to both
these conventions.
Threat from
Sethusamudram Ship Channel project (SSCP)
Dugongs are subject to a range of human
threats in the Gulf of Mannar, including loss
and degradation of important habitat such as
seagrass meadows. Dugong habitat is mostly under
pressure from coastal development, pollution,
and other degradation. The greatest threat the
dugongs face today is from the Sethusamudram
Ship Channel project (SSCP), which will disrupt
the biosphere area of seagrass, constant trenching
of the canal system will deposit sediments onto
the seagrass. It is believed that no studies
have ever been carried out regarding the migratory
routes of the dugongs and conservationists believe
that the dugong population will be permanently
wiped out from the Gulf of Mannar as a result
of the SSCP.
SEE ALSO
• "
Mermaids": Urgent Action Needed to save
them from Habitat Destruction, Pollution and
Entanglement in Fishing Nets
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