{"id":25956,"date":"2023-03-17T16:39:34","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T15:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=75498"},"modified":"2023-03-17T17:35:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T16:35:47","slug":"dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Dugong guide: what they are, what they eat \u2013 and how long they live for"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dugongs are ocean herbivores that have inspired ancient legends. Here we take a look at the fascinating species <\/p>

By Sheena Harvey\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 17 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

What are dugongs<\/h2>\n
Dugongs are slow-moving vegetarian mammals of the Sirenia order, which also contains the world\u2019s three species of manatee. The dugong\u2019s closest relative was the Steller\u2019s sea cow but that was hunted to extinction in the 1700s.<\/p>\n\n<h2>How big are dugongs?<\/h2>\n<p>Dugongs are up to 3m in length and weigh around 500kg<\/p>\n<h2>Where do they live?<\/h2>\n<p class=\""p3"\">The species\u2019 range extends from the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and the east coast of Africa, through the west coast of India, to encompass much of the waters of south-east Asia to the northern edge of Australia. Unlike manatees, the dugong is an entirely saltwater-dwelling animal, the name being a corruption of the Malay <i>duyung<\/i>, meaning \u2018lady of the sea\u2019 or \u2018mermaid\u2019.<\/p>\n<h2>What do dugongs look like?<\/h2>\n<p>Dudong are strange creatures that look a bit like a cross between a seal and a whale. <span class=\""s1"\">As dugongs mature they grow larger and darker, bearing the marks of tussles with other dugongs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The notches on each dugong\u2019s tail and its forelimbs, which are modified into flippers, are unique to the individual<\/p>\n<h2>Can dugongs breathe underwater?<\/h2>\n<p>Dugongs must surface to breathe. Dugongs cannot hold their breath under water for very long so every three minutes or so a dugong has to swim to the surface to breathe.<\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Ahmed Shawky, environmental researcher for the technical office of the Egyptian Minister of the<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\"> Environment,<\/span><\/span> found they spent 16 per cent of the time surfacing.<\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\">Ahmed has been observing and working to understand declining numbers of dugongs since he discovered that no research had been conducted on the species since 1957<\/p>\n<h2>What do dugongs eat?<\/h2>\n<p>Dugongs like to graze on <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/plant-facts\/water-plants\/seagrass-guide-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-so-important\/"\">seagrass<\/a><\/strong>, and spend more than half their time feeding \u2013 58 per cent.<\/p>\n<h2>Are dudongs solitary animals?<\/h2>\n<p class=\""p1"\">Dudongs live in pairs, with one mate<\/p>\n<h2 class=\""p3"\">How long do Dugongs live for?<\/h2>\n<p class=\""p1"\">Dugongs can live for 70 years<span class=\""Apple-converted-space"\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<h4>More marine species explored<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/the-fascinating-world-of-the-lemon-shark\/"\">The fascinating world of the lemon shark<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/facts-about-manta-rays\/"\">Manta ray guide: how to identify, diet and where they live<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/what-do-dolphins-do-during-storms\/"\">What do dolphins do during storms?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/how-do-dolphins-sleep\/"\">How do dolphins sleep?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Dugongs are ocean herbivores that have inspired ancient legends. Here we take a look at the fascinating species <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25957,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/dugong-guide-what-they-are-what-they-eat-and-how-long-they-live-for-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Dugongs are ocean herbivores that have inspired ancient legends. Here we take a look at the fascinating species","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}