Saving the mysterious sea cows

Known locally as “dugong” (Dugong dugon), this sea cow is a large, charismatic and gentle creature of the sea that is rarely seen nowadays in coastal and marine areas where they used to thrive. Shy as it is, very little is known about this very elusive marine mammal—its population and distribution, how and where it breeds or congregates, or where and how it raise its young. Fortunately, as a species, dugong is surviving the numerous human-induced threats, unlike its cousin, the Steller’s sea cow that lived off the coast of western North America, which became extinct in the 18th century mainly due to hunting.