Dugong

The dugong, a gentle marine mammal that has frequented China's southern waters for hundreds of years, has become functionally extinct in the country, ...

The study was by a team of international scientists who conducted interviews in 66 fishing communities across four Chinese provinces along the coastal region of the South China Sea. Professor Samuel Turvey of ZSL's Institute of Zoology, a co-author of the study, said the likely disappearance of dugongs in China was a devastating loss. With no evidence of their presence in China since 2008, the research shows "this is the first functional extinction of a large mammal in China's coastal waters," the report said.

The researchers said: “Our study provides evidence of a new regional loss of a charismatic marine megafaunal species, and the first reported functional ...

[manatees](https://www.standard.co.uk/topic/manatees) but are strictly marine animals and, unlike [manatees](/topic/manatees), they have a dolphin fluke-like tail. [extinction](/topic/extinction) of a large vertebrate in Chinese marine waters. [animal](/topic/animal) in the past three years.

The dugong, a marine mammal related to the manatee, is now functionally extinct in China.Dugongs have a similar appearance and behaviour to manatees, ...

ZSL and the Chinese Academy of Science discovered that since 2000, scientists had not confirmed sightings. By Sadaf Hasan. August 24, 2022.

The extinction of the dugong in China, according to Prof. The Chinese State Council designated dugongs as a grade-one national priority protected animal in 1988 due to a significant drop in population. The dugong’s probable extinction in China is a terrible loss, according to Prof. Some people think that because it resembles the manatee in look and behaviour while being distinguished by a whale-like tail, it served as the model for the mermaids described in old maritime tales. Due to its leisurely, laid-back behaviour, the dugong, which is thought to be the most benign animal in the water, was probably more vulnerable to overfishing and shipping accidents. In the previous five years, just three people had witnessed one.

Fishing and ship strikes have caused a rapid decline of the gentle "sea cows" since the 1970s and there has been no evidence of their presence in China ...

The report said their marine habitats have been rapidly degraded by humans and although restoration and recovery efforts are a key priority in China they take "time that dugongs may no longer have". Fishing and ship strikes have caused a rapid decline of the "sea cows" since the 1970s, according to research by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Fishing and ship strikes have caused a rapid decline of the gentle "sea cows" since the 1970s and there has been no evidence of their presence in China since 2008, according to a new study.

There have only been three reported sightings of dugongs in Chinese waters within the past five years, new research has found. | ITV National News.

They say the extinction of the marine mammal "reflects the latest stage in the progressive ecological deterioration of marine ecosystems in Chinese waters". 'Mermaid' sightings by sailors in centuries gone by are thought to really have been sightings of dugongs or manatees, also known as 'sea cows'. Researchers say the dugong population mostly declined during the twentieth century, after the mammals were documented in Chinese waters for several hundred years. A dearth of recent studies about dugongs' survival in recent decades led researchers to turn to locals in China for help. Dugongs can grow to about 3.4 metres (11 feet) in length, and are thought to have inspired mermaid mythology as sailors spotted the paddle-tailed creatures from afar. No confirmed sightings of the species in the wild have been recorded since 2008.

The dugong, a gentle marine mammal that has frequented China's southern waters for hundreds of years, has become functionally extinct in the country, ...

The study was by a team of international scientists who conducted interviews in 66 fishing communities across four Chinese provinces along the coastal region of the South China Sea. Professor Samuel Turvey of ZSL's Institute of Zoology, a co-author of the study, said the likely disappearance of dugongs in China was a devastating loss. With no evidence of their presence in China since 2008, the research shows "this is the first functional extinction of a large mammal in China's coastal waters," the report said.

New research led by ZSL and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has led researchers to declare that one of the ocean's most gentle giants, the dugong is now ...

[Gateway to the Upside Down? Accounts of mermaids go as far back as 1000 BC in Syria. But the investigations found no recent dugong sightings across their known haunts. It has been classified as a Grade 1 National Key Protected Animal since 1988 by the Chinese State Council. In the mythical telling, the beautiful goddess of fertility Atargatis cast herself into a lake – and transformed into a mermaid. It makes the outlook grim for the few that survive in the shallows of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.