Researchers have declared dugong-a mammal related to the manatee functionally extinct in China. Only three people surveyed from coastal communities in China reported seeing the dugong in the past five years.
- A “functionally extinct” organism is one that may have a few individuals still living but will never recover. Some organisms are “extinct in the wild,” meaning they can no longer be found in the areas they once inhabited.
Key highlights
- Known as the ocean’s most gentle giant, the dugong’s slow, relaxed behaviour is likely to have made it vulnerable to overfishing and shipping accidents.
- Scientists at ZSL and the Chinese Academy of Science reviewed all historical data on where dugongs had previously been found in China.
- They found there had been no verified sightings by scientists since 2000.
- Its habitat close to shore in China left it vulnerable to hunters in the 20th Century who sought the animal for its skin, bones and meat.
- After a notable decline in population, dugongs were classified as a grade-one national key protected animal by the Chinese State Council in 1988.
- However, continuing destruction of its habitat – including a lack of seagrass beds for feed – has caused a “rapid population collapse”.
- Its extinction in China should act as a warning to other regions that house dugongs – including Australia, India and East Africa.
- The species is found in 37 other tropical regions in the world – in particular the shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans – but is classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species.
About Dugong
- Dugong is the only herbivorous marine mammal on earth that feeds exclusively on seagrass.
- It consumes 40kg of seagrass daily and helps in the growth of fresh vegetation.
- In the absence of dugongs, seagrass will grow densely and fish will not come to lay eggs.
- The dugong is a species of sea cow found throughout the warm latitudes of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
- Dugongs are on the verge of extinction. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, their population is less than 100.
- There are very few left in the Gulf of Mannar. In the Gulf of Kutch, there are very few sporadic records.
- They were present in Lakshadweep but now are locally extinct.
- Dugong was declared as a Schedule I animal under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Unlike the closely related manatees, the dugong never enters freshwater and is therefore the only exclusively marine mammal that is herbivorous.
- Tamil Nadu government has announced to establish a dugong conservation reserve in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay between India and Sri Lanka.
- Declaring an area as ‘protected’ means there will be no human interference in there.
