A group of Chinese researchers has declared the dugong, a mammal believed to have inspired stories about mermaids, to be extinct in China.
This mammal has only been seen three times in the past five years, along coastal regions of China. Researchers haven’t noticed it since 2000.
The animal, which weighs almost half a ton, is famous for its docile features and made vulnerable by poaching.
The team of investigators who announced the animal’s disappearance interviewed nearly 800 people living in coastal areas, most of whom had not seen a dugong on average for 23 years. Hence being considered extinct, “a species can no longer guarantee its survival,” explained Heidi Ma, one of the scientists involved in the research that brought together the ZSL Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The dugong is still found in other parts of the world, where it faces similar threats. Samuel Turvey, of the Zoological Society of London, was quoted by the BBC as saying his disappearance in China was a “devastating loss”.
In the early 1900s, dugongs were preyed upon by hunters for their skin, bones, and meat, but their most famous tail was the mermaid’s tail.
