Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing dugongs. You can subscribe to the channel for updates on new animal episodes. Perhaps you know the name dugong because of a certain game, but dugongs in real life would have much higher HP.

You could call them the tank of the ocean, and some people have even lovingly dubbed them sea cows. These hulking beauties are thought to be, along with their manatee cousins, the origin of sailor’s tales of mermaids, and, I mean, they aren’t wrong - these ladies be sexy, scars and all. Dugongs frequently sport scars along their backs because males tend to fight one another for female affections, and even the girls can get caught in the fray.

All dugongs grow tusks, but they’re most noticeable in males and older females. Males will use these tusks in sparring matches during breeding season to try and fend off other suitors from their ladies. They aren’t really that effective, though, because over the course of a mating match, most of the males present will get a chance with the girl. This pretty much ensures that a female will become pregnant, which is good because dugong populations are dwindling.

It takes just over a year for a baby dugong to develop in the womb. Mother dugongs usually give birth to one calf. The calf will drink its mother’s milk for up to eighteen months, but from a young age it knows how to eat a dugong’s favorite meal. Dugongs almost exclusively eat seagrass. They’re herbivores, which is highly unusual in marine mammals. Seriously, just think about that for a minute. Weird, right? Manatees are the only other marine mammals that subsist on a vegetarian diet, and these sea cows have to eat a lot of food in order to maintain their rotund figures.

If you’ve ever thought dugongs look kind of like elephants, you’d be a smart cookie. Dugongs and manatees are most closely related to these terrestrial giants, and some manatees even have fingernails to prove it - dugongs, however, do not. There’s one tell-tale difference between a dugong and a manatee, and it’s just that: their tails! Manatees have a round, flat tail kind of like a beaver, but dugongs have fluked tails just like whales. Dugongs also have thicker bristles covering their faces. These aid in sensing their environment because, unlike keen-sighted manatees, dugongs have pretty abysmal eyesight. Their hearing, however, is top notch, and dugongs communicate with one another by making a variety of sounds - though I’m pretty sure “moo” is not in their repertoire. ;)

Dugongs may travel alone, in pairs, and sometimes in groups of over 100 members; it all really depends on where they live. Dugongs live pretty much exclusively in shallow saltwater throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Though they have been recorded more than 50 feet (15m) below the ocean’s surface, on average dugongs stay in water less than ten feet (3m) deep. As babies, dugongs are vulnerable to shark, crocodile, and killer whale attacks, but the adults can pretty much fend for themselves, and they can live to be as old as us!

For more facts on dugongs, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up for marine creatures, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.