Dugong is one of the oldest marine animals in the world. It is a national first-level protected animal and one of the endangered species in my country. Because it needs to surface regularly to breathe, it is often regarded as a "mermaid". Since 4,000 years ago, humans have been hunting dugongs, eating their meat to extract oil, using their bones for carving, and their hides for making leather. So far, the number of dugongs has been extremely rare.
The adult animal can reach 3 meters in length and weigh more than 300 kilograms. During the lactation period, the mother animal often hugs the cub with its forelimbs, keeping its head and chest above the water, and constantly makes beautiful calls. In history, many navigators were fascinated by this and caused their ships to run aground. There are many beautiful legends about dugongs, and people call them mermaids. In fact, it bears little resemblance to the mythical fairy. It is fat and slow-moving, and often wanders listlessly in herds, rather like cattle on land, moving from one pasture to another.
Dugongs like to live in coastal waters with lush seaweed. It feeds on algae as its main food and eats a lot. It eats 40 kilograms of food a day. Every 10-15 minutes, it will also bring its round animal face out of the water, and the valves of its big nostrils will open and close again. This is the breath, and then it sinks back into the depths. The sea hunters took the opportunity to attack it with harpoons. The hit rate must be high, otherwise, the injured dugong will scream and run away, frightening other companions as well. Therefore, the local people are very strict in training the fork operators, and they are personally trained by the leader from an early age. Local residents regard hunting as sacred. Before going out to sea, pray to your ancestors for blessings on catching a big dugong. There are many large and small islands in the Torres Strait on the north coast of Australia. The islands are inhabited by dark-skinned and bearded indigenous people. They are "sea hunters" and their prey is mainly dugongs. This is one of the only places on earth where dugongs live.
animal tags： Dugong mermaid Dugongidae
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