And now for something very tenuous | Friday, October 14, 2005 |
As you might suspect, the first picture just made me laugh (turned up on a set of comments posted on a totally unrelated matter by one of the guys at work)
The Dugong (Dugong dugon) is the only surviving member of the family Dugongidae (Reynolds and Odell 1991). Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) is also in the family Dugongidae (Reynolds and Odell 1991), but the species was extirpated by humans in 1768 just 27 years after it's discovery in the North Pacific.
Nice work fellas.
In Australia, Dugongs are found around the Northern Coast with the majority in the Torres Straits and it's estimated that there are perhaps 1700 in the Northern Barrier Reef. I knew they had similar animals in the Amazon and the West Indies / Florida, but wasn't aware that they can also be found in the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea.
These strange looking beasts are what gave rise to the Mermaid legends and I guess it illustrates just how slow ships were back in the early days of maritime exploration. I don't know about you, but I'd had have to have been onboard ship for a very, very long time before one of these started to look attractive. Irrespective of their dubious comeliness though, I do hope to see some.
