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China’s legendary mermaid now extinct
PETER FROST reports on yet another species it seems we shall never see again
Dugongs are the source of many legends of the sea [Camille Menard/ Creative Commons]

AS YOU sail into Copenhagen harbour in Denmark, you spot its famous Little Mermaid statue. 

My reaction, like everyone else I’ve spoken to, is that the statue is much smaller than you expected. “Much smaller than a real mermaid,” I hear them say. Real mermaid. Urgh?

The Little Mermaid statue at Copenhagen is based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen
The manatee (Trichechus manatus) can be confused with the dugong (Pic: US Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters/Creative Commons)
A dugong feeding on sea grass (Pic: Ruth Hartnup/Creative Commons)
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