Photograph by OSF\/D. Fleetham\/Animals Animals\u2014Earth Scenes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nToday we are going to head to the farm to learn about cows.\u00a0 Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly correct.\u00a0 We are actually going to head to the sea to learn about Sea Cows.\u00a0 No, I am not being funny!\u00a0 The Dugong is often referred to as the sea cow.\u00a0 I don’t believe there are any farmers out there that have a herd of sea cows and use them to produce milk but I could be wrong.<\/p>\n
The dugong is called a sea cow because it basically feeds the same way as a regular cow.\u00a0 The dugong will graze on underwater grasses by digging them up with their snout. The sea cow can grow to about 3 meters (6′) long and weigh up to 300 kg (600 lbs).\u00a0 In the wild they are able to live up to 70 years.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the dugong is the only remaining member of its once diverse family.\u00a0 Hunting has brought the dugong population into jeopardy, however, they have finally been protected throughout their range.<\/p>\n
So do these “cows” have any special adaptations to allow them to graze along the ocean floor? Of course they do, I wouldn’t have asked the question if they didn’t.\u00a0 The first adaptation has to do with their snout which is turned downwards to allow the sea cow the ability to uproot their yummy grass salad.\u00a0 The liver of the dugong has also evolved which actually removes all of the salt from the plants that it consumes. Another unique adaptation is the weight of their bones.\u00a0 Unlike humans the dugong has little to no marrow in their bones.\u00a0 These solid bones actually acts as a ballast which allows them to stay suspended just below the water surface.\u00a0 Just so you know the bones of the dugong are among the densest in the world. I wonder if they use the excuse “I’m just big boned” after they put on a few pounds from eating too many Christmas goodies!<\/p>\n
Dugong Fast Fact:<\/strong> It is believed that the dugong may be responsible for starting the myth about mermaids. I wonder why Disney didn’t go with The Little Dugong instead of the The Little Mermaid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today we are going to head to the farm to learn about cows.\u00a0 Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly correct.\u00a0 We are actually going to head to the sea to learn about Sea Cows.\u00a0 No, I am not being funny!\u00a0 The Dugong is often referred to as the sea cow.\u00a0 I don’t believe there are any farmers out there that have a herd of sea cows and use them to produce milk but I could be wrong. The dugong is called a sea cow because it basically feeds the same way as a regular cow.\u00a0 The dugong will graze on underwater <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[348,226,323,325,239,4115,4025,324,4027],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Photograph](\"http:\/\/wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/dugong.jpg\" "\\"dugong\\"")
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