Southeast Asia is home to some of the most diverse marine habitats in the world, including dugong. The dugong serves as a vital herbivore in shallow coastal seagrass beds. These creatures are not only merely animals to the coastal communities but are deeply woven into local folklore and traditional beliefs.
In many regional languages, the names given to these mammals reflect a strong connection to human forms. For instance, Malay speakers sometimes refer to the animal as perempoen laut or "woman of the sea," while others call it putri duyung or "dugong princess". These terms have long inspired tales of mermaids among sailors navigating the warm tropical waters.
The Tagalog word for the animal has also been linked to the concept of a "lady of the sea". Across various islands, indigenous stories try to explain how humans and these unique marine mammals share a common ancestry.
These legends have historically governed how fishing families interact with the marine environment. In some areas, these cultural connections acted as a natural shield that protected the animals from overexploitation.
Human Origins
A common legend found in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand is that dugongs were originally human or part-human, usually representing women. One specific myth from Pulau Tinggi in Malaysia tells of a pregnant woman who turned into a dugong after eating seagrass during a high tide. Similar tales from other communities describe tragic figures who escaped into the ocean and transformed into these gentle sea-dwellers.
Because of this close kinship, people traditionally believe that dugongs shed real tears when they are beached or butchered. Many communities consider it extremely bad luck if an animal dies accidentally in fishing nets or fish corrals. This belief is especially strong in the Philippines, parts of Sabah in Malaysia, and northern Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia.
Due to these powerful taboos, coastal populations in these specific regions did not traditionally hunt the animals for food. Consequently, the marine mammals remained plentiful and thrived in wide seagrass meadows until around the 1970s. Similar protective beliefs existed in southern China, where fishermen traditionally revered them as miraculous fish and avoided catching them.
The Mythical Power of Dugong Tears
In sharp contrast to the protective taboos, other regions of Southeast Asia view the animal through an exploitative lens. In Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other parts of Indonesia, dugong "tears" are highly sought after as powerful aphrodisiacs. The meat of the animal is also considered a luxury food that is believed to possess aphrodisiac properties.
These beliefs have driven active, opportunistic hunting that has pushed some local populations to the brink of extinction. Traditional medicine in Malaysia also utilizes ground bones mixed with hot water to cool the body, as well as tusk shavings to treat asthma and back pain. Additionally, the fat of the animal is processed into oils to treat minor burns or earaches.
Such highly valued products create a strong economic incentive for hunters, with single tusks fetching prices equivalent to several months of average income in the Togean Islands. Unfortunately, this illegal trade persists across borders even though international agreements ban the commercial sale of these protected mammals. The deep split between reverence and exploitation represents one of the greatest challenges for modern conservationists.
Today, the rapid march of modern education and lifestyle changes threatens to erase these traditional stories from the minds of the younger generation. Many young fishers no longer hold the same spiritual connections to the sea or understand the ecological role these mammals play in maintaining healthy seagrass beds. When the old myths are forgotten, the protective cultural barriers that once shielded the species disappear as well.
