Bludgers.

[Guest]

I have seen 2 live dugongs in the wild..not very cute up close!!!Like a big fat swimming cow...... ..na they are wiked animals I also found one dead one washed up on the beach..killed by humans obviously, probably aboriginals (they are allowed to kill a certain number a year)

 

[hugsta]

Hence their other name "sea cow"

 

[Pinkie]

Dugongs and manatees are both from the Sirenia family, more commonly known as sea cows. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are part of a sustainable management program which allows them to continue traditional hunting methods killing a certain number per year.
I just did a whole semester course on dugongs with the world's leading dugong expert, I feel like I can now speak dugong

 

[Guest]

So perhaps pinkie..if they left it on the beach to rot just dead, with no meat taken off it, it may not have be aboriginals?

What noise does a dugong make?

 

[hugsta]

MMMMOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! LOL

 

[Pinkie]

Brodes I'd say it also may have been hit by a boat or separated from its mother (if young). Dugongs are very maternal animals, young can't survive long without mum around. Did it have any injuries?
Indigenous hunters would be more likely to roast it for dinner and eat it all up.

Hugs - thats about it!! MMMMOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fuscus]

What noise does a dugong make?

A loud thud, but you have to drop them from a height

If a dugong was killed and not eaten then it is very unlikley to have been killed by aborigines, who rarely (if ever) hunt for sport . If it looked like it had been killed by humans chances are it was killed by a gill-net ( and cut out by the fisherman) or run over by a speedboat.

 

[Pinkie]

Sorry Fusc,
I have to say that the pressure of indigenous hunting of dugongs is the largest cause of mortality for the species.
It is estimated that >1000 individuals are killed per year in the Torres Strait alone, and are also hunted in remote coastal areas in Qld, North of Broome and the NT. An ecologically sustainable harvest is known to be around 100-200 individuals per year.
Dugongs are part of the Torres Strait and Aboriginal culture, they are of enormous cultural, spiritual and economic (substinence) importance to indigenous people.
It is a complicated social issue re: managment, but through education and cooperative management agreemens, traditional hunting can be managed sustainably by Australian indigenous communities.

 

[Pinkie]

Yeah so the point is you're right Fusc they dont hunt for sport, they hunt because it is of cultural significance But they do hunt.