Adopt a Dugong

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Manatees and dugongs are gentle, plant-eating herbivores sometimes nicknamed ‘sea cows’ although their closest living relative is the elephant.Gentle and social animals they live in warm, shallow waters along the coast, in estuaries and in canals. Curious legends are associated with manatees and dugongs wherever they are found, and they are central to many cultural traditions around the world.

Sadly, Manatees and Dugongs are now an endangered species and it is believed that there are only 2500 – 3000 left in the wild. They are legally protected practically everywhere they are found, yet despite this manatees still have to endure encroachment from humans. Today, most manatee deaths and injuries are human inflicted. Collisions with motorboats, entanglement in fishing gear, indigestion of hooks and other discarded trash to name but a few hazards to their simple pursuit of existence.

Did you know?

The Dugong (also known as the Manatee) are the distant relatives of the elephant, and are peaceful, plant eating marine mammals.
These plant eating ‘sea cows’ have no dorsal fin or hind limbs, with a large snout that makes them facially look a bit like an underwater version of their distant cousins. They have a thick smooth skin, with a slight smattering of hair.
The Dugong has very small eyes, which give them limited vision.
They can grow up to three metres in length and can weigh up to 1000lbs.
They can live to a ripe old age, with the oldest recorded over 70 years old.
They can dive to almost 40 metres, and can last almost 6 minutes without breathing.
They like to live in the warm waters of the Pacific Coast and East Africa, but unfortunately have been hunted over thousands of years and are now close to extinction.
Dugong’s are no longer hunted, but they get caught in fishing nets, motorboats, and human trash which depletes their number yearly.
Their only natural predators in the wild are killer whales and sharks, though human intervention is the major reason for their lack in numbers.
There are believed to be fewer than 3000 left in the wild, putting them on the world’s endangered species list.