14/04/2023
Dugong..โค๏ธ
Sea cow ..
(Dugong) lives in the warm coastal waters of the Red Sea and the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and it is the only aquatic mammal that feeds only on grasses at the bottom of shallow waters, so it is called (sea cow).
Although it is one of the aquatic mammals (of which seals or sea dogs are also classified), this giant animal is what really distinguishes it is not related to these mammals and other creatures, but it is closer to elephants.
Elephants and dugongs share in that they belong to the groups (monoraceous, as they both combine characteristics from common animal groups such as wool, and the type and method of food such as the hose, as shown in the following video.
The Dojong can stay in the water for six minutes before it comes out to the surface to breathe and the mother helps her newborn to come out to the surface and take the first breath in his life. A female Dojong carries her fetus for a year and continues to nurse it for 18 months.
The animal reaches a length of 4 meters and weighs up to 900 kg (that is, approximately a ton), and is very similar in shape and behavior to the manatee that appears in the picture below. With her hard lips.
The Dugong is classified globally as vulnerable to extinction, due to a significant decrease in its numbers over the past years.
The Dugong is spread in more than 40 countries, mostly in the Indian Ocean around the Indian Peninsula, the Philippines and Indonesia, in the Red Sea in Egypt, the coasts of East Africa, and the Western Pacific Ocean around Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
This animal is also known by several names, including: dugong, mermaid or sea cow, and dugong,
And here I put in your hands the most important information about this wonderful creature. Through my practical experience and also through some reliable references that care about endangered species around the world..
1- A large marine mammal, its length ranges between 2.50 and 3 meters.
2- Its spine contains between 57 and 60 vertebrae.
3- The mermaid weighs 430 kilograms, and may reach 900 kilograms.
4- It has two arms in the form of two round fins.
5- He uses his large, muscular lips to tear up seaweed.
6- The upper jaw of the maleโs mouth bears two long incisors like elephant tusks, each of which reaches 20 cm in length.
7- His strong molars and hard rams at the front of his jaws grind food.
8- He has very long lungs and kidneys, the first extending from the chest to the kidneys, in order to deal with the salt water environment.
9- The Dugong can only stay at the bottom of the sea for 6 minutes, so before the end of that period he is forced to rise to the surface of the sea to catch his breath.
10- The duration of pregnancy lasts from 13 to 14 months, and the female usually gives birth to one newborn in the water.
11- The Dugong reaches the age of eight years, and may sometimes reach 18 years, and the female may give birth to her first birth at the age of 10 or 17 years.
12- It is one of the most important tourist attractions for the Marsa Alam area. Where tourists come from all over the world to enjoy watching this wonderful creature that has been subjected to many violations that led to the decline in its numbers around the world and its extinction. aldeb