once they were captured and held in the water (Figure 5a). Respiration rate of some dugongs then dropped briefly when the animal was initially manoeuvred into the stretcher so that overall breathing interval increased slightly during in-water transport (16.7 ± 0.39 s, n = 30) (Figures 5a & b).
Mean breathing interval for 30 dugongs during the out-of-water phase (including induced and voluntary breaths) was 32 ± 0.64 s (Figure 5a). For all 30 dugongs, removing them from the water caused an immediate depression in respiratory rate with resultant breathing intervals of up to 253 s