Professor Atsushi Maruyama of Ryukoku University's School of Advanced Science and Engineering and Okinawa Prefectural Environmental Science Center for Environmental Research have found evidence that the dugong, a marine mammal thought to have become locally extinct since 2019, still lives in the Ryukyu Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. Director Hiroyuki Ozawa confirmed this.
According to Ryukoku University, Professor Maruyama and his colleagues conducted DNA analysis of the feces of large herbivores found in the Kushi district of northeastern Okinawa main island and the Sawada district of Irabu Island, and found dugong DNA fragments. Herbivores' feces sometimes contain fragments of their own DNA, and Professor Maruyama and his colleagues believe that these feces come from dugongs. Although feces of large herbivores have been found on Yanaha Island, no dugong DNA was detected.
Furthermore, after examining reports of dugong sightings since 2010 and evidence of bite marks from dugongs, Professor Maruyama and his colleagues believe that dugongs inhabit the waters around the main island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands, the Miyako Islands, and the Yaeyama Islands. .
Dugongs are large herbivorous mammals that live in the sea. Adults weigh between 250 and 900 kg. They used to inhabit a wide area of the Ryukyu Islands, but their numbers have decreased due to a decrease in feeding grounds due to development, and they have been designated as ``Endangered'' by the Ministry of the Environment and Okinawa Prefecture's Red List.
In 2019, after an adult female was found dead and adrift in Nakijin Village on the main island of Okinawa, a paper claimed that dugongs in the Ryukyu Islands had become locally extinct, as there had been no official reports of sightings. It had been announced.
Paper information:[Scientific Reports] Fecal DNA analysis coupled with the sighting records re-expanded a known distribution of dugongs in Ryukyu Islands after half a century
