The dugong, a species of so-called sea cow that roams the ocean floor in Asia and Africa and is said to have inspired ancient legends of mermaids, has been spotted off China’s southern coast for centuries. Not lately, though. A new study suggests that the dugong has become the first large vertebrate to go functionally extinct in China’s coastal waters, the result of a rapid population collapse there that began in the mid-1970s. “Functional extinction” means that even if some dugongs are still alive off China’s coast, their numbers are…
The Dugong ‘Sea Cow’ Has Vanished from China’s Waters, Study Says
