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Alien
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Cassie
"I just learned about dugongs 2 days ago. I love your perfect article about the beautiful dugongs!" ...
Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are large aquatic mammals that live in warm, shallow waters in the Southern Hemisphere from Africa to Australia. They breathe air through nostrils into their lungs, and can stay underwater for about 6 minutes.
Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are marine mammals that grow to lengths of up to three meters and weigh as much as 400 kilograms. Dugongs are also known as 'sea cows' because they feed on sea grass and the roots of aquatic plants in sheltered coastal waters.
Dugongs feed on the phanerogamous (having visible flowers containing distinct stamens and pistils) sea grasses of the families Potamogetonaceae and Hydrocharitaceae.
Dugong
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
see sirenian.
More on Dugong
Sirenian - (sr´nn) or sea cow, name for a large aquatic mammal of the order Sirenia.
Dugongs are related to manatees and are similar in appearance and behavior- though the dugong's tail is fluked like a whale's. Both are related to the elephant, although the giant land animal is not at all similar in appearance or behavior.
Dugongs are herbivores, feeding exclusively on seagrasses, cropping the leaves and roots by using their broad muzzle to move the food into the mouth.
Dugong - profile
Scientific name: Dugong dugon
Conservation status in NSW: Endangered
Description ...
Dugongs are believed to have been the basis of mermaid legends when glimpsed swimming in the water from a distance. They could hardly be described as beautiful but they do have a certain grace underwater.
Manatees, dugongs, and sea cows belong to the order Sirenia; siren is the Latin word for a mermaid-like creature that lures sailors to watery deaths with a seductive voice.
Dugongs and Manatees
Sirenians are slow and passive mammals of tropical and sub-tropical waters. Their large thick bodies betray their heritage as relatives of elephants.
Dugongs
Dugongs live in shallow warm waters of northern Australia.
They eat sea grass.
Dugong dugon (the dugong)
Hydrodamalis gigas (Steller's sea cow - hunted to extinction in the 1770's, soon after they were discovered)
Manatee Coloring/Writing Printout
Color the manatees then write about this endangered marine mammal.
Dugong - Received from Bill in South Carolina
Q: What is a dugong. Where can I find information on it.
Family Dugongidae: (1 species), dugong (East Africa, Red Sea, North Australia)
Family Trichechidae: (3 species), manatees (tropical Atlantic coasts and adjacent rivers)
[edit] Group II: Xenarthra (29 species)
Order Cingulata ...
Sirenia - dugongs and manatees
These mammals are adapted to spend all of their time in water. They have flippers for front limbs and a flat tail. They have thick bristles on their lips. They are herbivores and eat aquatic vegetation.
9. Sirenia (Dugongs and Manatis).
10. Ungulata (Hoofed Mammals) :- a. Proboscidea (Elephants and Mastodons).
b. Hyracoidea (Hyraxes).
Order Sirenia (dugongs, manatees, and sea cows)
Order Tubulidentata (aardvark)
Euarchontoglires (Euarchontoglirean mammals) ...
The elephants, the hyrax or klipdassie, the dugong Dugong dugon and the manatee Trichechus spp, shared a common pig-like ancestor, Moeritherium some 60 million years ago.
The main reason we returned specifically to Monkey Mia was to try to get some more looks at Dugong dugon (Dugongs), the eastern hemisphere counterpart to our manatees.
Whales, dugongs and manatees are the only mammals which spend their entire life in water (seals and sealions etc, return to dry land to mate and breed). The body of the whale is streamlined; tapering towards the tail.
The Sirenia order consists of four species in two families, manatees and dugongs. They are also known as sea cows. Members of this order live their entire lives in the water and live primarily on vegetation.
Dugong (Dugong dugon)
Turbinaria coral (Turbinaria patula)
Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
Montipora coral (Montipora australiensis)
Bubble coral (Plerogyra sinuosa)
Small giant clam (Tridacna maxima) ...
The Trichechidae differ from the Dugongidae in the shape of the skull and the shape of the tail. Manatees' tails are paddle-shaped, while the Dugong's are forked.
Some, such as the manatees and dugongs, seem an obvious choice because they too are hairless and lack hind legs.
Others, such as otters, seals, and bears, stretch our imaginations a bit too much.
The truth is even more bizarre.
Manatees belong to the mammalian order Sirenia. There are three species of manatees and one species of dugong: A fifth species, Steller's sea cow, was hunted to extinction in 1768.
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Dugong, Dugong dugon ...
*** The three species of manatees, and the closely related dugong, are unique in that they are the only plant-eating marine mammals in modern times.
Status and Trends
Countries Where the Amazonian Manatee Is Currently Found: ...
SIRENIA: Trichechidae (Manatees and Dugongs)
Common Name Scientific Name Distribution
West Indian Manatee
Trichechus manatus ...
The closest relatives to the elephant are the Hyraxes and Sea Cows (dugongs and manatees). Elephants are also related to Horses, Tapirs and Rhinos.
Elephant Diet ...
This is true to a certain extent, but misleading since the relationship stems from a remote ancestor common to hyraxes, sea cows (dugongs and manatees) and elephants.
Fossil records suggest that the elephant has some unlikely distant relatives, namely the small, rodentlike hyrax and the ungainly aquatic dugong. They all are thought to have evolved from a common stock related to ungulates.
latirostris, the Florida manatee, and T.m. manatus, the Antillean manatee. The order Sirenia has one other living species, the dugong. A fifth species, Steller's sea cow, was hunted to extinction by 1768.
Almost all involve species within a single genus (e.g., any of the 8 species of pangolin in genus Manis) but I did expand the concept to include "any sirenid" as a single pick: these are the 3 species of manatee plus the South Pacific dugong.
 See also: Manatee, Siren, Elephant, Kangaroo, Hyrax
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