Photo of the day

On the fringes of the Red Sea, a dugong tucks into its favorite meal: seagrass. Dugongs’ other name, “sea cow,” is inspired by the way in which they use their muscular, horseshoe-shaped upper lip to uproot seagrasses from the ocean bottom to eat. They may look like cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), but dugongs are actually thought to be descendants of land mammals, making them more closely related to elephants than whales! As well as providing food and habitat for vulnerable marine species like the dugong, seagrass beds are always hard at work pulling carbon dioxide out of the air, helping to fight climate change and keep the planet livable for all of us.