The dugong, a marine mammal that inspired mermaid tales, has become functionally extinct in China, a new study says.
Some believe the dugong is theThis may be because from a distance, female dugongs sometimes look like they are nursing their young in a similar way to a woman breastfeeding her baby, leaving their heads and chests exposed out of the water, according to the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology.
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.“Their absence will not only have a knock-on effect on ecosystem function, but also serves as a wake-up call — a sobering reminder that extinctions can occur before effective conservation actions are developed.”
The study was done by a team of international scientists who conducted interviews in 66 fishing communities across four Chinese provinces along the coastal region of theThe authors said they would welcome any evidence that dugongs might still exist in China. They recommended that the species regional status be reassessed as Critically Endangered .
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