They mainly live in tropical shallow seas, and feed on aquatic plants such as medicinal algae and halophytes. Its distribution is closely related to water temperature, ocean current and seaweed as the main food. Dugong is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and the southern coast of Taiwan Province in China.
Because the female dugong will hold the baby dugong with her flipper forelegs and put her head and chest out of the water when breastfeeding, it just happens that her chest has a pair of nipples, which looks like a woman holding a baby while breastfeeding from a distance. Therefore, the misunderstanding of treating dugong as a "mermaid" has spread.
Breeding mode
The age of sexual maturity of dugong is 9 years old or above, and the male reaches sexual maturity at 9- 15 years old. The female gave birth to her first child at 10- 17 years. During the breeding period, a female dugong is chased by several males and then mated.
The gestation period is about 13 months, and each fetus gives birth to 1 litter. The newborn dugong is 1- 1.5 meters long and weighs about 20 kilograms. The lactation period of the young is about 18 months. The interval between two farrowing is about 3-7 years.