Sea turtle lends helping flipper to hungry orphan dugong in Thai gulf (Video)

Take a break from all the calamity and controversy for a moment and join us in the Thai gulf, where a large sea turtle gave a free ride to an orphaned baby sea cow. 

Far from corrupt cops and power-hungry politicos, the aquatic pair were spotted swimming through the ocean by a Thai navy drone. In its footage, the baby dugong, likely hungry and foraging, is first seen swimming around a discarded plastic bag. In the next scene, it is suddenly riding atop the meter-wide sea turtle. 

The footage was shared around noon today by Prince of Songkla University biologist Sakanan Plathong.

Plathong believes the dugong calf had been separated for awhile from its mother. He said it could be linked to a reported dugong death last month.

He urged locals and naval personnel based at nearby Sattahip to help clear the beach of garbage and reduce fishing activities that put the dugong at risk.

Baby dugongs still need their mother’s milk and have no experience living in the ocean alone.

In 2019, all of Thailand became transfixed by the welfare of an orphaned dugong calf named Mariam. She died weeks later from all the plastic she had ingested in the sea.

The dugong is considered “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which means they are likely to become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening their survival and reproduction rates improve.

Fewer than 300 remain in Thai waters due to depleting food sources, overtourism, plastic pollution and overfishing. The vegetarian sea cows are often cut to pieces by boat propellers as they like to drift and float in the currents looking for food – if fishing nets don’t get them first.

Sea turtles are more common in the area, so hopefully there are enough to continue lending a flipper to help the lost calf find the seagrass it needs to eat.

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