Dugong << DOO gong >> is a plant-eating sea mammal. It lives in shallow, warm coastal waters of the Indian and South Pacific oceans from eastern Africa to northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, and other islands.
A dugong has a blunt, rounded snout with a bristly upper lip. Both the male and the female have two long tusks in the upper jaw, but only those of the male are visible. Most dugongs are brownish or grayish. Like dolphins, the dugong has a streamlined body and a forked tail that propels it through the water. It uses its flippers for maneuvering and to push sea grass near its mouth. The average adult dugong measures about 9 feet (2.7 meters) long and weighs about 600 pounds (270 kilograms). Dugongs can live up to about 70 years.
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Dugongs have been hunted for their meat, fat, hides, and bone. They are threatened by hunting, fishing nets, water pollution, and human settlement.
