Mersing dugong and seagrass home to get protection

The news: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/03/01/mersing-dugong-and-seagrass-home-to-get-protection/

Excerpts:

The fisheries department is in the process of gazetting the waters around the Mersing cluster of islands in Johor to provide protection for the dugong and its seagrass habitat.

The department said these islands are the only place in Peninsular Malaysia where the dugongs can be found.

Photo credit: Facebook pic from FMT

Did you know this?

Dugongs are sirenians and therefore related to manatees. Though they resemble cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), dugongs and manatees are believed to be descendants of land mammals that make them more closely related to elephants than whales.

Dugongs are omnivores while manatees are herbivores and they graze (like elephants!). Manatees are also very friendly.

A sirenian is a large aquatic mammal, usually herbivorous. They are also known as “sea cows” because they graze on seagrasses.

Manatees have a kind and fearless demeanor because of the lack of natural predators. They have also not developed an elaborate escape response or aggression mechanism, so they tend to handle most situations with an incredible degree of gentleness and respond warmly to people.

Manatees and dugongs are related to each other and while they are very similar in appearance and behavior, there is one key difference – their tails. Manatees have paddle-shaped tails and dugongs have fluked tails, giving it a whale-like appearance.