Dugongs

Dugongs are the only fully marine herbivorous mammals — manatee cousins that graze seagrass beds for 8–10 hours daily. They breathe air every 6 minutes, raise calves like elephants (long gestation, slow maturity), and rely entirely on healthy seagrass meadows for survival.

Globally vulnerable, locally extinct in many former ranges, dugongs persist in pockets across the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. The reliable encounters: Egypt's Marsa Alam seagrass beds (Marsa Mubarak in particular), Andaman's Havelock and Neil islands (rare but possible), and Mozambique's Bazaruto Archipelago.

They're shy but tolerant — slow approach, surface-snorkel rather than scuba (bubbles spook them). Encounters often last 5–10 minutes as the dugong grazes within a few metres and ignores you.