Dugong merupakan hewan mamalia laut yang sangat jarang dapat di temukan lagi pada habitat aslinya khususnya di sekitar perairan .  Penyebaran dugong di perairan dunia di catat pada longitude 30°E sampai 170°E dan antara latitude 30°N sampai 30°S. Kawasan ini mencakup Australia,　 Teluk Persian dan laut merah, pantai Afrika, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philipina, Malaysia, Thailand dan di sekitar kepulauan Pacific.

Di Indonesia sendiri, populasi dugong sangat sedikit.  Dilaporkan tahun 1970 populasi dugong mencapai 10.000 ekor dan tahun 1994 di perkirakan popluasinya hanya sekitar 1000 ekor. Penyebaran dugong di Indonesia laporkan berada di kawasan timur Indonesia mencakup Sulawesi (Bunaken, Wakatobi Takabonerate), Nusa Tenggara Timur (Sumba, Lembata, pulau Flores, Teluk Kupang Kepulauan Komodo), Maluku Pulau Aru Pulau Lease seram dan Halmahera) Perairan papua (Pulau Biak, sorong dan Fakfak) dan sebagian kecil pada perairan Sumatra (Riau, Bangka dan Pulau Belitung), Jawa (ujung Kulon, pantai Cilacap, Cilegon, labuhan dan Segara Anakan) dan Bali. Informasi tentang keberadaan dugong hanya di peroleh dari beberapa nelayan yang kebetulan secara tidak sengaja menangkap atau melihat dugong itu sendiri. Ataupun oleh pengamatan beberapa NGO yang kebetulan survey dan pengamatan tentang dugong di .

Masih sangat minimnya penelitian yang dilakukan terhadap ekologi dugong yang merupakan hambatan utama bagi upaya konservasi dugong itu sendiri. Ini karena memang sangat langka untuk dapat menemukan dugong secara langsung.  Pernah pula di laporkan, pada bulan October 1999, Nelayan Cilegon menangkap dugong dan langsung di bawa ke Oceanarium (Taman Impian Jaya Ancol). Dan saat itu pun Oceanarium telah mempunyai dugong sejak tahun 1984.

Sebagai mamalia laut, dugong sangat tergantung pada lamun (seagrass) yang merupakan habitat dan makanan alaminya. Dugong hanya memakan lamun, itupun hanya beberapa jenis di antaranya 　 Halodule sp., Halophile sp. dan Syringodium sp. Sementara penyebaran lamun ini hanya ada pada kawasan-kawasan tertentu, yang saat sekarang pun telah terjadi pengrusakan dan degradasi yang cukup serius.Sejak di keluarkannya Peraturan pemerintah Nomor 7 tahun 1999 tentang Konservasi Flora dan Fauna yang dalam hal ini termasuk perlindungan Dogong dugon dan lamun (seagrass). Upaya perlindungan terus berjalan tidak maksimal.

Banyak hal yang menghambat upaya konservasi itu sendiri di tambah dengan kurangnya infomasi tentang biologi dan ekologi dugong di Indonesia seakan membiarkan dengan pasti hilangnya dugong dari perairan Indonesia.  Sekarang pun dugong Indonesia laksana sejarah yang kita hanya dapat mendengarkannya dari cerita nelayan-nelayan dulu dan atau hanya melihatnya berenang statis pada gambar dan foto-foto di museum.

These enormous vegetarians can be found in warm coastal waters from East Africa to Australia, including the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific.

Dugongs are related to manatees and are similar in appearance and behavior— though the dugong's tail is fluked like a whale's. Both are related to the elephant, although the giant land animal is not at all similar in appearance or behavior.

Dugongs graze on underwater grasses day and night, rooting for them with their bristled, sensitive snouts and chomping them with their rough lips.

These mammals can stay underwater for six minutes before surfacing. They sometimes breathe by "standing" on their tail with their heads above water.

Dugongs spend much of their time alone or in pairs, though they are sometimes seen gathered in large herds of a hundred animals.

Female dugongs have one calf after a yearlong pregnancy, and the mother helps her young reach the surface and take its first breath. A young dugong remains close to its mother for about 18 months, sometimes catching a ride on her broad back.

These languid animals make an easy target for coastal hunters, and they were long sought for their meat, oil, skin, bones, and teeth. Dugongs are now legally protected throughout their range, but their populations are still in a tenuous state.

Some believe that dugongs were the inspiration for ancient seafaring tales of mermaids and sirens.

Fast Facts

Type:Mammal

Diet:Herbivore

Average life span in the wild:70 years

Size:8 to 10 ft (2.4 to 3 m)

Weight:510 to 1,100 lbs (231 to 499 kg)

Group name:Herd

Protection status:Threatened

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

How dugong looks?

A dugong is roughly the size and shape of a large dolphin, but with a less streamlined head and no dorsal fin. The muzzle is largeand fleshy; the eyes are small; the external ears consist only of tiny openings; and the nostrils lie close together at the anterodorsal tip of the snout. A pair of short upper incisor tusks is present, but these normally do not erupt except in adult males. The cheek teeth are simple and peglike. The neck is very short; the pectoral flippers are short and rounded, without nails; the two mammae are located in the axillae; hind limbs are completely absent; and the tail fin is horizontally flattened and in the form of flukes like those of cetaceans. The body is gray to bronze in color, somewhat lighter ventrally, and sometimes with large unpigmented areas; the thick, smooth skin is often extensively scarred in older animals.

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Features of Dugong

+ Average adult length2.7 metres (8.9 ft)+ Average adult mass250 to 300 kilograms (551 to 661 lb).+ Maximum longevity (most die at a younger age)70 years+ Pre-reproductive period (females)6-17 years+ Pre-reproductive period (males)4-16 years+ Gestation period13-15 months+ Litter size

1cm+ Lactation length14-18 months+ Calving interval3-7 years+ Maximum possible rate of increase (e.g. low natural mortality & no human-induced mortality) ~ 5% per year+ Estimated natural mortality rate~ 5% per year+ Needs for survivalFresh & warm water (Zero cold water tolerance)Seagrass

Dugong list of facts is made of finely balanced population parameters.

Being a marine herbivorous mammal, dugongs are more closely related to elephants than to marine mammals such as whales and dolphins, but their closest living aquatic relatives are the manatees.

The dugong (Dugong dugon) is the only living herbivorous mammal that is strictly marine, and the only species of the Family Dugongidae; following the 18th century extinction of Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas). Together with the extant of Family Trichechidae, which are the three species of manatee, forms the Order Sirenia. All extant members of the Order Sirenia are listed as vulnerable to extinction.

The Dugongidae differ from the Trichechidae in the shape of the skull and the shape of the tail. Dugongs have a forked tail, similar in shape to a whale's, while manatees' tails are paddle-shaped. Dugongs are generally smaller than manatees (with the exception of the Amazonian Manatee), reaching an average adult length of 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) and mss of 250 to 300 kilograms (551 to 661 lb).

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Habitat

Dugongs swim in the shallow coastal waters were they find protection from large waves and storms. Dugongs surface only to breathe, and never come on to land. They like to live in large herds, but due to declining numbers are often now found in smaller "family" groups of between 1 and 3 Dugongs

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Diet

Dugongs are particular about their diets, with certain 'fields' of sea-grass cropped. Dugongs are referred to as 'sea cows' because their diet consists mainly of sea-grass. Unlike manatees, dugongs are exclusively benthic feeders. The muscular snouts of dugongs are more dramatically tapered than those of manatees. Their primary feeding mechanism is uprooting sea-grass by digging furrows in the sea-floor with their snouts. Dugongs in Moreton Bay, Australia are omnivorous since they choose to eat invertebrates such as polychaetes when the supply of their choice grasses decreases.

They will also go to any fresh water sources for drinking. Without these fresh water sources, many would not survive. The amount of these fresh water sources, however, are beginning to decline. The dugong population is predicted to enter a steep decline. However, many scientists are working to prevent this potentially cataclysmic blow to the entire dugong population. Currently, this effort is proving futile, as the dugong population is not showing any increased population numbers.

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Breeding

Like their relatives, the manatees of the Americas, female dugongs in season, attract the attention of a number of males, one or two of which will eventually mate with her. One young is born after a gestation period of 12-14 months and will continue to suckle from the mother for about 18 months. They may remain with the female for a number of years, as she will not calve again for periods of between 2.5 to 7 years. This low reproductive rate has implications for their conservation worldwide and leaves them vulnerable to dramatic declines due to the impact of human activities.

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Defence

Dugongs are slow-moving and have little protection against predators. Being large animals, however, only large sharks, Saltwater Crocodiles and Killer Whales are a danger to them. Dugong (Sea Cow) Males have ivory tusks used for fighting during male-male rivalry as well for uprooting seagrasses. Young Dugongs hide behind their mothers when in danger.

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Migration

During the winter, a few packs of dugongs will move to warmer places in the northern countries, such as bays and canals and other will also go to man built radiators for warmth. Dugongs also live in warmer waters of many other countries near the Equator.