DUBAI // Filmmaker Jonathan Khan was working with researchers Bernhard Riegl and Jan Korrubel at the Jebel Ali Reef in the mid-1990s when he got the chance to get something altogether more interesting on camera.
Swimming in proximity to the research vessel the scientists were using to survey a newly discovered coral reef in Jebel Ali, Mr Khan saw a pair of dugongs engaged in curious behaviour.
The animals appeared to be a mother and her calf.
The female seemed to be pushing the young animal to the surface. “It seemed she was showing it how to swim,” said Mr Khan, who had never seen similar behaviour in dugongs before. The encounter was short but sufficient for the filmmaker to record it.
The survey area turned out to contain seagrass beds, which provide foraging for the gentle marine mammals. The most extensive seagrass beds in the country are much farther to the west of Dubai, in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
