A ‘Mermaid’ Mammal Is Declared Functionally Extinct in China

As if humans weren’t wreaking enough havoc to natural habitats all over the world, the dugong—a marine mammal closely related to the manatee—has been declared functionally extinct in the waters near China largely due to humanity’s destructive ways.

In a bleak study published Thursday in the journal the Royal Society Open Science, an international team of researchers found that the species—which was once plentiful in the South China Sea—hasn’t been spotted in the waters for the last 20 years. In fact, there have been “no confirmed records” of the animal since 2008, according to the paper.

The researchers conclude that the species is now extinct in the South China Sea, which means its population is no longer large enough to play a significant role in the marine ecosystem. So there might be some dugong left in the area that just haven’t been spotted. But the species can’t sustain itself in the long or short term in the region.

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