Dead juvenile dugong found off Singapore’s Bedok Jetty, first local record since 2021
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — A dead juvenile dugong was found off Singapore’s Bedok Jetty yesterday, reportedly the first local record of the rare marine mammal since 2021.
According to The Straits Times, Marcus Chua, mammal curator at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, said dugong sightings or strandings are rare in Singapore.
“It is rather unfortunate as we would rather see them alive on our shores,” he was quoted as saying.
Chua said samples had been taken from the carcass with help from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and would be preserved for research, but the museum would not salvage the rest of the remains because of its highly decomposed state and because it already has a recent specimen from 2021.
NUS dugong researcher Sirius Ng reportedly said dugongs found dead or in distress in Singapore have generally been linked to vessel strikes and entanglement with fishing gear, in cases where autopsy findings were conclusive.
He added that calves made up most such local records, mirroring a concerning rise in calf strandings observed in dugong populations across South-east Asia and the Arabian Gulf.
