Description:
The dugong is a large marine mammal known for its gentle nature, inhabiting the warm coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Related to the manatee, dugongs are characterised by their streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies, paddle-like flippers, and distinctive fluked tails similar to those of dolphins. They have a unique downturned snout adapted for grazing on seagrass, their primary food source.
A sea cow (Dugong, Sirenian) feeding on seagrass, accompanied by juvenile pilot jacks at Abu dabbab, Red Sea
Key facts
Population:
East African dugongs are severely fragmented and their numbers continue to decline.
Diet:
Habitat:
Dugongs are found in coastal intertidal zones where there is sea grass, sand and mud.
Range:
Once common in East Africa, the East African subpopulation of dugongs is now estimated to be fewer than 250 and is considered critically endangered.
Threats
Habitat Loss is the main threat to the East African subpopulation of dugongs alongside climate change – 90% of the subpopulation living in a single location that could be severely disturbed by a single, or series of, natural disasters. High human population growth rates along the East African coast have put severe pressure on marine ecosystems to support food provisioning.
Conservation
Alternative livelihoods and sustainable fisheries management are needed to reduce dugong mortality by minimising by-catch rates and seagrass habitat degradation. Tusk works with C3 in Madagascar to protect the marine habitat that Dugongs rely on.
Learn more about the projects
Habitat Loss is the main threat to the East African subpopulation of dugongs alongside climate change – 90% of the subpopulation living in a single location that could be severely disturbed by a single, or series of, natural disasters. High human population growth rates along the East African coast have put severe pressure on marine ecosystems to support food provisioning.
Conservation
Alternative livelihoods and sustainable fisheries management are needed to reduce dugong mortality by minimising by-catch rates and seagrass habitat degradation. Tusk works with C3 in Madagascar to protect the marine habitat that Dugongs rely on.