Dugongs can grow to about three metres long and weigh as much as 400 kilograms. Despite their size, they are completely peaceful - their only food is seagrass. They use their broad, bristly snouts to uproot the grass from the seafloor, leaving little feeding trails behind them in the sand.
Unlike fish, dugongs must come up to the surface to breathe air. They surface every few minutes with a quiet, slow breath, then sink back down. A dugong's tail is shaped differently from a dolphin's - it has a forked, pointed shape, a bit like a whale's flukes.
In the Solomon Islands, dugongs are considered special animals by many coastal communities. Traditional customs protect certain areas where dugongs live, and local rangers work to keep the seagrass beds healthy. Seagrass meadows are important not just for dugongs but for juvenile fish, sea turtles, and the whole reef ecosystem.