Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The dugong (/ ˈ d (j) uː ɡ ɒ ŋ /; Dugong dugon) is a marine mammal.It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees.It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century.
The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae (the dugong and the now extinct Steller's sea cow) and Trichechidae (manatees, namely the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee) with a total of four species. [2]
Sirenia is the order of placental mammals which comprises modern "sea cows" (manatees and the Dugong) and their extinct relatives. They are the only extant herbivorous marine mammals and the only group of herbivorous mammals to have become completely aquatic. Sirenians are thought to have a 50-million-year-old fossil record (early Eocene-recent).
Dugongidae is a family in the order of Sirenia. The family has one surviving species, the dugong (Dugong dugon), one recently extinct species, Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), and a number of extinct genera known from fossil records. Dugong skeleton displayed at Philippine National Museum
Nanosiren garciae is an extinct sirenian dugong that lived in warm shallow seas in what is now Venezuela, approximately 11.610—3.6 Ma during the Miocene and Pliocene. [1] The species is listed in the Paleobiology Database, funded by the Australian Research Council.
A fossil reveals how a now-extinct species of dugong was swimming in the sea about 15 million years ago when it was preyed upon by a crocodile and a tiger shark.
Dusisiren is a sirenian exemplar of the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium.It evolved from a mangrove-eating ancestor to adapt to cold climates in the North Pacific by developing the capability to feed on kelp beds out on the open coast.
Prorastomidae is a family of extinct sirenians from Jamaica, related to the extant manatees and dugong. [1] [2] [3] The family includes the oldest known fossils of Sirenians, represented in two genera: Pezosiren; Pezosiren portelli cast skeleton produced and distributed by Triebold Paleontology Incorporated