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Dugongs, once mistaken for mermaids, declared functionally extinct in China
- Hunting and habitat destruction to blame for the disappearance of ‘sea cows’ in Chinese waters, scientists say
- Ancient records describe the animals as ‘mermaids’ that ‘haunt the sea’ and are ‘able to weave’
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The dugong, a marine mammal found in coastal areas of the Pacific and Indian oceans, is now functionally extinct in Chinese waters, according to a new paper.
Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reached that conclusion after conducting a large-scale survey of fishermen, sailors and other maritime industry workers in four Chinese provinces and reviewing records of reported dugong activity.
Just three out of the 788 respondents in their survey reported dugong sightings in the past five years – none of which were backed by evidence. With no verified field observations since 2000 and a lack of other records after 2008, the researchers concluded the animals experienced rapid population collapse and were now functionally extinct in China.
“This is the first functional extinction of a large vertebrate in Chinese coastal waters,” said Lin Mingli, lead author of the paper published in Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday.
The dugong is a docile mammal that moves slowly along shallow seabeds and feeds on seagrass, resting on reefs after a full meal. It has poor eyesight but excellent hearing.
The animals have inspired Chinese legends about mermaids. When a female dugong nurses her young, she sticks her head out of the water and holds the calf with her flippers. From a distance, the dugong looks like a woman breastfeeding a baby, according to a 2019 report in Science and Technology Daily.
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Baby dugong prepares for life back in the wild
Baby dugong prepares for life back in the wild
The Shu Yi Ji, written during the Southern dynasties (420AD to 589AD), contains an early record of the animals: “There are mermaids in the South China Sea in the shape of fish. They haunt the sea and are able to weave, and droplets fall from their eyes when they cry.”
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