CHAPTER XX 
THE DUGONG, MANATEES, WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS 
BY F. G. AFLALO, F. Z. 5. 
THE DUGONG AND MANATEES 
legend, have puzzled many eminent naturalists. Before they were placed in an order 
by themselves, Linnzeus had classed them with the Walrus, Cuvier with the Whales, and 
another French zoologist with the Elephants. They are popularly regarded as the cows of the 
sea-pastures. Their habits justify this. I have often watched dugongs on the Queensland 
coast browsing on the long grasses, of which they tear up tussocks with sidelong twists of the 
head, coming to the surface to breathe at short intervals. 
Omitting the extinct Rhytina, otherwise known as Steller’s Sea-cow, which was exterminated 
in the Bering Strait not very long after civilised man had first learnt of its existence, we 
have to consider two distinct groups, or genera, of these sirenians. The DUGONG is the 
representative of the first, and’the two MANATEES belong to the other. 
The dugong is found on the coasts of Northern Australia, in many parts of the Indian 
Ocean (particularly off Ceylon), and in the Red Sea. It is easily distinguished, by even 
superficial observation, from the manatees. Its tail is slightly forked, somewhat like that of 
the whales: the tail of manatees, on the other hand, is rounded. The dugong’s flippers, to 
which we also find a superficial resemblance in those of the whale, show no traces of external 
nails: in those of the manatees, which show projecting nails, there is a considerable power of 
free movement (the hands being, in fact, used in manipulating the food), which is not the 
[oe curious creatures, which seem to have been the basis of much of the old mermaid 
Photo by A. S. Rudlana & Sons 
DUGONG 
A vegetable-feeding sea-mammal from the Indian Ocean and North Australian waters 
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