Dugong
Amazing fact
A dugong’s nostrils, on top of its head, close with valves when it dives.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A dugong’s nostrils, on top of its head, close with valves when it dives.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Dugong
- Scientific name
- Dugong dugon
- Japanese name
- ジュゴン
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Sirenia
- Family
- Dugongidae
- Genus
- Dugong
A mammal that lives in warm, shallow seas of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific.
Its tail fin is triangular with a notch in the middle. It uses the bristles on its upper lip to find food.
It pulls up whole seagrass plants, roots and all, to eat them, leaving trails behind in the seagrass meadow.
How the Dugong lives
It may travel far to find seagrass. When seagrass is scarce, it also eats algae. It is often alone, but may also form groups.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベースBasic data
- Size
- 2.5–3 m, 2.4–4 m国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベースUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Weight
- 250–400 kg, 230–400 kg国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベースUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Seagrass鳥羽水族館
- Range
- Coastal waters of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean鳥羽水族館
- Conservation status in Japan
- Critically Endangered (CR)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020
Where the Dugong has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ジュゴン
- 简体中文
- 儒艮
- 繁體中文
- 儒艮
- 한국어
- 듀공
- Español
- Dugongo
- Deutsch
- Seeschwein
- Português (Brasil)
- Dugongo
- Italiano
- Dugongo
- हिन्दी
- डूगोंग
- العربية
- أطوم
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Duyung
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá cúi
- Русский
- Дюгонь
- ไทย
- พะยูน
- বাংলা
- ডুগং
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ジュゴンChecked: 2026-11-03
- 国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベース — ジュゴンChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Dugong dugonChecked: 2026-11-03
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRead how to tell them apart
Dugong and West Indian manatee: how to tell them apart
A dugong has an indented tail, while a West Indian manatee has a paddle-shaped tail.
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