The dugong (Dugong dugon) is a large, gentle, slow-moving relative of manatees and, more distantly, of elephants. This herbivore lives in warm waters in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where it spends much of its day grazing on sea grasses. In fact, a single dugong can eat as much as 88 lbs (40 kg) of seagrass a day! But as extreme weather events, like cyclones and floods, become more intense as a result of climate change, seagrass meadows can be damaged and destroyed—reducing an important food s

Dugong swimming near the seabed of the Red Sea, slowly searching for food in the sand, loosening the bottom as it feeds, while soft clouds of sand rise and drift outward around its body calmly below.

Dugong swimming near the seabed of the Red Sea, slowly searching for food in the sand, loosening the bottom as it feeds, while soft clouds of sand rise and drift outward around its body calmly below.

The Dugong Project: Community-Led Conservation in Mozambique | Marine Megafauna Foundation

Sea cows of India: Population of vulnerable dugong mammal stabilising