The World Dugong Day is being celebrated on May 28, 2020. This year the day is being celebrated with the theme of “Save dugong, save livelihood“.
- Dugongs are the world’s only vegetarian marine mammal are threatened with extinction.
- The dugong is commonly known as the sea cow. They are mammals, which means they give birth to live young and then produce milk and nurse them.
- Dugongs graze on seagrass, especially young shoots and roots in shallow coastal waters. They can consume up to 40 kilograms of seagrass in a day.
- Like sea turtles, seahorses, sea cucumbers, Dugong is also protected in India under Schedule I of the Wild (Life) Protection Act, 1972.
- India has signed non-legally binding Memorandums of Understanding with CMS (Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals) on the conservation and management of Siberian Cranes (1998), Marine Turtles (2007), Dugongs (2008) and Raptors (2016).
- According to the 2013 survey report of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), there were just 250 dugongs in the Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat
Source: Down to Earth
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