Dugong

Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC

Bazaruto hosts the most significant dugong population on the East African coast, with the seagrass meadows behind Two Mile Reef and throughout the shallow lagoon providing critical feeding grounds for a community of several hundred individuals — one of the only places in the western Indian Ocean where the species remains ecologically functional. Dugongs are obligate seagrass grazers, consuming up to 40 kilograms of seagrass per day, and their feeding furrows in the substrate are visible from shallow reefs adjacent to the meadow. Their slow reproductive rate — one calf every three to seven years — makes this protected population irreplaceable for regional recovery.