The dugong is the only living sea cow that is strictly marine, and its range is enormous on a map: tens of thousands of kilometres of coastline across two oceans. But within that range, dugongs are found only in particular places, the warm, shallow, sheltered waters where seagrass grows. Knowing where dugongs live really means knowing where seagrass grows, and where people have left enough of it, and enough peace and quiet, for dugongs to survive. This page walks through the dugong’s range region by region, explains what makes good dugong habitat, and covers how and why dugongs move around. For the basics on the animal itself, see our dugong facts page.

The dugong’s range at a glance

Dugongs live in the tropical and subtropical Indo-West Pacific, roughly between 27° north and 27° south of the equator.

The western edge of the range is the coast of East Africa, from Mozambique and Madagascar north to Kenya, Somalia and the Red Sea. From there it runs east through the Arabian Gulf and the coasts of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, through Southeast Asia and Indonesia, north to the Philippines, southern China and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and south and east to northern Australia, New Guinea and the western Pacific islands as far as Vanuatu and New Caledonia, with a small population at Palau.

Within that huge area, though, populations are patchy. In many countries only small, scattered groups remain, and in some places dugongs have disappeared altogether. The great majority of the world’s dugongs now live in Australian waters.

Region	Key areas	Status of dugongs
Northern Australia	Shark Bay, Torres Strait, Great Barrier Reef, Moreton Bay, Gulf of Carpentaria	Largest population in the world
Arabian Gulf	Waters off Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia	Second-largest population
Red Sea	Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea coasts	Small, scattered groups
East Africa	Mozambique (Bazaruto), Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar	Small and declining
South Asia	Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, Gulf of Kutch, Andaman Islands	Small, threatened groups
Southeast Asia	Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines	Fragmented populations
East Asia	Okinawa (Japan), southern China	Near or functionally extinct
Western Pacific	New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands	Small to moderate; New Caledonia notable

Australia: the dugong stronghold

Australia’s northern coastline, from Shark Bay in Western Australia around the top of the continent to Moreton Bay near Brisbane, supports the largest dugong population on Earth. Shark Bay, a World Heritage area with some of the biggest seagrass meadows anywhere, holds a large population. Torres Strait, between Queensland and Papua New Guinea, is another major stronghold, and dugongs also live along the Great Barrier Reef coast, in the Gulf of Carpentaria and around the Northern Territory.

Moreton Bay is notable because it is the dugong’s southern outpost on the east coast and sits right next to a major city. Dugongs graze on seagrass banks within sight of Brisbane’s skyline. Australia’s large populations are partly due to vast seagrass habitat and relatively low human density along much of the north coast, and partly to protection in marine parks.

The Arabian Gulf and Red Sea

The second-largest dugong population lives in the Arabian Gulf, also known as the Persian Gulf. Most animals are found in the waters between Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These dugongs tolerate some of the hottest seawater any marine mammal lives in, with summer temperatures well above 30°C. Aerial surveys there have recorded some of the largest herds ever seen, with hundreds of animals together.

In the Red Sea, dugongs occur along the Egyptian, Sudanese, Saudi and Eritrean coasts, usually in small numbers in sheltered bays with seagrass. Places such as Marsa Alam on Egypt’s southern coast have become known for occasional dugong encounters, though sightings have become less frequent as coastal development and diving pressure have increased.

East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia

Along the coast of East Africa, the best-known population is in the Bazaruto Archipelago of Mozambique, where a small herd survives in a national park. Dugongs are also found in Tanzania, Kenya and around Madagascar, but numbers are low and many local groups have declined because of fishing nets and hunting.

In South Asia, India’s remaining dugongs live mainly in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, between India and Sri Lanka, in the Gulf of Kutch off Gujarat, and around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. All of these populations are small. Across Southeast Asia, dugongs occur in Thailand (particularly the Andaman coast around Trang), Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, often in fragmented groups linked to surviving seagrass beds. The waters around Palawan in the Philippines are among the better-known areas.

East Asia and the Pacific islands

At the northern edge of the range, dugongs have almost vanished. In Japan, a tiny group around Okinawa has dwindled to very few or no animals, and in southern China, a 2022 study based on interviews and historical records concluded the dugong was functionally extinct there. These losses show how quickly a slow-breeding animal can disappear when seagrass is lost and accidental deaths continue.

In the western Pacific, New Caledonia’s vast lagoon supports one of the more important dugong populations outside Australia, and dugongs also live in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Palau, which marks the eastern limit of their range in Micronesia. In many of these islands, dugongs hold cultural significance and have traditionally been hunted, now often under community-based management.

Dugong habitat: what makes a good home

A dugong needs three things above all: seagrass, warm water and shelter. Seagrass is the key. Dugongs are herbivores that feed almost entirely on seagrass, preferring the softer, more nutritious species, and they dig up whole plants, roots and all, leaving distinctive feeding trails in the sand. For more on their diet, see what do dugongs eat.

Because seagrass needs sunlight, it grows mostly in shallow, clear water, and dugongs usually feed at depths of 1 to 10 metres, though they can feed deeper, down to around 30 metres or more, on deep-water seagrass. Sheltered bays, lagoons, mangrove-fringed channels and the lee sides of islands are favourite spots, because they offer calm water and protection from storms. Dugongs are strictly marine. Unlike manatees, they do not enter rivers or fresh water, which is one of the key differences covered in our dugong vs manatee guide.

Water temperature limits their range too. Dugongs do not tolerate cold water well, and at the southern edges of their range, such as Moreton Bay and Shark Bay, some animals move to warmer waters in winter.

Do dugongs migrate?

Dugongs don’t make regular long migrations like whales, but they do move. Many individuals have home ranges spanning a few to tens of kilometres, shifting between feeding areas with the tides and seasons. Satellite tracking in Australia has shown that some dugongs undertake much longer journeys, travelling hundreds of kilometres along the coast in a matter of days and sometimes returning to where they started. Movements also follow seagrass: when cyclones, floods or marine heatwaves destroy meadows, dugongs leave in search of food, and some starve if they cannot find new grazing areas.

How the dugong’s range has shrunk

The dugong’s historic range was much the same as today’s on a map, but the animals within it were far more numerous and more evenly spread. Old records describe large herds in places where only a few dugongs, or none, survive now, including parts of the Indian coast, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and southern China. Mauritius and the Maldives are often listed among places where dugongs were lost long ago.

The causes are the same almost everywhere. Seagrass meadows have been lost to dredging, coastal construction, sediment runoff and pollution. Dugongs drown in gillnets and are struck by boats in busy coastal waters. In some regions, they were hunted for meat and oil faster than they could breed; a female produces a single calf only every few years. The result is a range that looks continuous on a map but is really a chain of islands of habitat, some healthy and many fading. That is why the IUCN lists the dugong as Vulnerable overall, with some regional populations assessed as Endangered or Critically Endangered.

From my dives in dugong country

Several of the places I’ve dived are inside the dugong’s range: the Red Sea, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. I’m not going to claim a dugong encounter from those trips. What those dives taught me is how specific dugong habitat is. Most diving happens on reef walls, wrecks and drop-offs, which is exactly where you won’t find a dugong. They’re out on the shallow, sandy seagrass flats that most divers swim past on the way to the reef.

If I were planning a trip specifically to see a dugong, I’d pick a place with a known resident population and healthy seagrass, such as parts of Australia or a well-managed area of the Red Sea, go with a local operator who knows the grazing areas, and snorkel rather than dive, keeping a respectful distance. Seagrass is the clue. Find a big, healthy meadow in warm, sheltered water within the range, and you’re in the right neighbourhood. For more on the threats that have shrunk the dugong’s range, see rarest sea animals.

For a closer look at the nets, hunting, boat strikes and seagrass loss behind these range losses, see why are dugongs endangered.