Importance To Humans
Dugongs have historically provided easy targets for hunters, who killed them for their meat, oil, skin, and bones. They are often considered as the inspiration for mermaids, and people around the world developed cultures around dugong hunting. In some areas it remains an animal of great significance, and a growing ecotourism industry around dugongs has had economic benefit in some countries.
There is a 5,000-year old wall painting of a dugong, apparently drawn by neolithic peoples, in Tambun Cave of Ipoh city in the state of Perak, Malaysia. This was discovered by Lieutenant R.L Rawlings in 1959 while on a routine patrol. During the Renaissance and the Baroque eras, dugongs were often exhibited in wunderkammers. They were also presented as Fiji mermaids in sideshows.
Dugong meat and oil have traditionally been some of the most valuable foods of Australian aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Some aborigines regard dugongs as part of their Aboriginality. Dugongs have also played a role in legends in Kenya, and the animal is known there as the "Queen of the Sea". Body parts are used as food, medicine, and decorations. In the Gulf states, dugongs served not only as a source of food, but their tusks were used as sword handles. Dugong oil is important to people in India, and its meat is believed to be an aphrodisiac. Dugong ribs were used to make carvings in Japan. In Southern China dugongs were traditionally regarded as a "miraculous fish", and it was bad luck to catch them. However, a wave of immigration beginning at the end of the 1950s resulted in dugongs being hunted for food. In the Philippines dugongs are thought to bring bad luck, and parts of them are used to ward against evil spirits. In areas of Thailand it is believed that the dugong's tears form a powerful love potion, while in parts of Indonesia they are considered reincarnations of women. In Papua New Guinea they are seen as a symbol of strength.
Dugongs' or sea cows' hides have been thought to have been used as coverings in the building of the Old Testament portable worship tent known as the Tabernacle.
The Pokémon character Dewgong is very loosely based on the dugong, with fictional adaptations including a horn on its head for breaking through sea ice.
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