Gracie the dugong was rescued from the waters off Singapore’s offshore island, Pulau Ubin, in September 1998 after her mother was drowned after being entangled in a fishing net. A post-mortem of the adult female dugong revealed that she was lactating. The Singapore authorities decided that the suckling calf should be cared for by Underwater World Singapore, as the orphaned calf would not have survived in the wild without her mother to care for her. She has since grown from a 59 kg calf to a hefty 150 kg beauty!

 
   
 


The rehabilitation of our orphaned dugong calf has been carefully documented, one of very few successful rehabilitations of this species in the world. Underwater World Singapore has shared its scientific knowledge and valuable experience by making presentations on our dugong rehabilitation at international forums.