Dugong – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

Dugongs are rare and elusive. Shutterstock

September 25, 2019

Dugongs: looking to the gentle sea creature’s past may guard its future

Stephanie Plön, Nelson Mandela University and Shane Lavery, University of Auckland

While the other members of the Sirenia are found in the Atlantic, the dugong is the only sea cow found in the Indian Ocean and south-western Pacific. This highlights its deep African connections.

November 30, 2017

How local ecological knowledge can save endangered and rare animals

Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, Cardiff University; Benjamin L. Jones, Cardiff University, and Richard K.F. Unsworth, Swansea University

It can fill in the scientific gaps.

Traditional hunting poses no threat to dugongs. Flickr

December 6, 2016

Traditional hunting gets headlines, but is not the big threat to turtles and dugongs

Helene Marsh, James Cook University and Mark Hamann, James Cook University

The real threats to dugongs and turtles are not being addressed.

Loggerhead turtle populations are facing a brighter future, but many other species are still in decline, while for others there are no data at all. AAP Image/Lauren Bath

May 27, 2015

We’ve only monitored a fraction of the Barrier Reef’s species

Mark Hamann, James Cook University and Andrew Chin, James Cook University

The Great Barrier Reef is home to some 1,600 species of bony fish, 130 sharks and rays, and turtles, mammals and more. Most have had no population monitoring, meaning we don’t know how well they are faring.

Shark Bay is one of Australia’s 19 World Heritage Areas, home to dolphins, dugongs, and sharks. Matthew Fraser

October 8, 2014

Climate change threatens Western Australia’s iconic Shark Bay

Matthew Fraser, The University of Western Australia; Gary Kendrick, The University of Western Australia; John Statton, The University of Western Australia; Jordan Thomson, Florida International University, and Michael Heithaus, Florida International University

In the summer of 2010-2011 Western Australia experienced an unprecedented heatwave — but not on land. Between December 2010 and April 2011, sea temperatures off the WA coast reached 3C above average, and…

It’s rough out there: the waters off Townsville present many more threats to dugongs than do the hunters of the Torres Strait. Francisco Martins

May 9, 2013

Dugongs are safer in Torres Strait than Townsville

Helene Marsh, James Cook University

“How many are there?” and “how are they doing?” are the first questions people usually ask about species of conservation concern. These seemingly straightforward questions are tough to answer when it comes…

Dugongs rely on seagrass for food - damage to grass beds is a bigger threat to the species than Indigenous hunting. sandwichgirl/Flickr

April 15, 2013

Banning Indigenous hunting won’t help dugongs

Jon Altman, Australian National University and Seán Kerins, Australian National University

In the 1990s some international animal rights and environment organisations instigated a concerted campaign to stop the hunting of pilot whales by Faroese people living in the northeast Atlantic. The thousand-year-old…

The endangered dugong is being hunted unsustainably using a cruel harpoon technique. Nicola Sfondrini

April 7, 2013

In the name of culture: dugong hunting is simply cruel

Dominique Thiriet, James Cook University and Rebecca Smith, James Cook University

Many Australians are rightly appalled by the slaughter conducted by the Japanese whaling fleet under the guise of “scientific research”. This is not only because whaling is cruel but also because whales…

September 4, 2012

Great Barrier Reef’s dugongs under threat

James Cook University

Recent aerial surveys of the southern Great Barrier Reef have revealed a dramatic decline in the region’s dugong population…

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