Dugong: Relative of mammal that inspired mermaid tales extinct in China

Experts have declared the mammal related to the particular manatee – said to have inspired historic tales of mermaids and sirens : extinct in Cina.

Only three people surveyed from coastal residential areas in China reported seeing the dugong in the past five years.

Known as the ocean’s many gentle giant, the particular dugong’s slow, calm behaviour is likely to make it vulnerable to overfishing and shipping mishaps.

It nevertheless exists elsewhere on the planet but is facing similar threats.

Prof Samuel Turvey, from your Zoological Society of London (ZSL), whom co-authored the research study , said: “The most likely disappearance of the dugong in China is the devastating loss. ”

Scientists at ZSL and the Chinese Academy of Science examined all historical data on where dugongs had previously been found in China.

They found there had been no validated sightings by researchers since 2000.

In addition , the experts turned to citizen technology to interview 788 community members residing in those coastal regions identified, to determine whenever local people had last seen one.

On average, residents reported without having seen a dugong for 23 many years. Only three people had seen 1 in the past five many years.

This has brought the researchers in order to declare the dugong functionally extinct : meaning “it has ceased to be viable… to maintain itself”, Heidi Ma, postdoctoral researcher on ZSL, told the BBC.

The dugong is an unique character from the sea. Weighing in at almost fifty percent a tonne, it is the only vegetarian marine mammal.

Similar in appearance and behavior to the manatee, yet distinguished by its whale-like tail, the gentle – apparently benign – predisposition has led some to believe that it inspired ancient seafaring tales of mermaids .

Sadly, the habitat close to shoreline in China remaining it vulnerable to sportsman in the 20th Centuries who sought the dog for its skin, our bones and meat.

After a notable drop in population, dugongs were classified as being a grade-one national key protected animal from the Chinese State Council in 1988.

But researchers think that the continuing destruction of its habitat — including a lack of seagrass beds for give food to – has caused a “rapid population collapse”.

The UN Atmosphere Programme estimates that 7% of seagrass environment is being lost globally every year because of industrial and agricultural air pollution, coastal development, unregulated fishing and climate change.

Prof Turvey said its annihilation in China need to act as a warning to other regions that house dugongs : including Australia and East Africa : calling it “a sobering reminder that extinctions can occur prior to effective conservation actions are developed”.

The species is found in thirty seven other tropical regions in the world – particularly the shallow coastal waters of the Indian native and western Pacific Oceans – but is classified because “vulnerable” on the International Marriage for the Conservation associated with Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened types .

Countries are currently meeting within New York to sign a new UN sea treaty which would put 30% of the tour’s oceans in secured areas.

Kristina Gjerde, high-seas policy advisor for the IUCN, informed the BBC: “The dugong is an unhappy example of what is happening towards the marine environment where there is increasing encroachment of human routines. ”