Mermaid, Undine - dugongs declared extinct !!!

 ஆழ் மனதில் பல ஆண்களுக்கு கனவுக்கன்னிகள் உண்டு .. .. கடற்கன்னி !  -  அதுவும் ஒருவிதமான கனவுக்கன்னியே !!  பண்டைய நாட்களில் ஆண்கள் மட்டுமே கப்பற்பயணங்கள் மேற்கொண்ட காலத்தில் - . மாதக்கணக்கில் பெண் வாடையே இல்லாமல் கடலில் பயணித்துக் கொண்டிருந்தவர்கள் மனதில் கடற்கன்னிகள் பற்றிய புனைவுகளும் அலையடித்துகொண்டிருந்தன. வெகு தூரத்தில், மங்கலாக ஏதோ ஒன்று! அழகான மனித உடலைப் போன்ற ஒரு தோற்றம்,   திமிங்கிலம் மாதிரி மீன் வடிவத்திலும் இல்லை, குழந்தைகளை மார்போடு அணைத்துக்கொண்டு உறங்கும் ஒரு பெண் போல-  அல்லது அழகான ஒரு பெண் அருகே நீச்சலடிப்பது போல -ஆனால்  அப்பெண் இடுப்புக்கு கீழே மீன் - அருகே செல்ல முயன்றால், அது கடலுக்குள் போய்விட்டது!  கடற்கன்னி (mermaid) என்பது மேற் பகுதி பெண்ணாகவும், கீழ்ப்பகுதி மீன் வாலும் கொண்ட ஓரு நீர்வாழ் உயிரினம் பற்றிய கற்பனை விவரிப்பு !! 

Undine is a 2020 German-French romantic fantasy drama film directed by Christian Petzold. It had its world premiere in Feb  2020 at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the competition section. Paula Beer won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

People fantasise .. .. and there are many stories of mermaids emerging from   our collective unconscious, thousands of years old and found globally. Contrary to Disney’s cute film about bikini-clad, red-haired Ariel, these myths and tales are mostly quite grim. They have several tropes in common: the mermaid has often been cursed or can curse and lure others (sailors, princes, pirates) to their fate. Mermaids often sing and have a sweet voice or an enviable talent that provokes jealousy in other women.

Dugongs are cousins of manatees and share a similar plump appearance, but have a dolphin fluke-like tail. Unlike manatees, which use freshwater areas, the dugong is strictly a marine mammal. Commonly known as "sea cows," dugongs graze peacefully on sea grasses in shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.  The name  "dugong" was first adopted and popularized by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, as "dugon" in Histoire Naturelle (1765), after descriptions of the animal from the island of Leyte in the Philippines. Other common local names include "sea cow", "sea pig" and "sea camel”. 

In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings. In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same traditions), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans. The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by the Sirens of Greek mythology, which were originally half-birdlike, but came to be pictured as half-fishlike in the Christian era. Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature in recent centuries, such as in Hans Christian Andersen's literary fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" (1836).

Not a great news for mermaids and its lovers ! -  Researchers have declared a mammal related to the manatee - said to have inspired ancient tales of mermaids and sirens - extinct in China. Only three people surveyed from coastal communities in China reported seeing the dugong in the past five years.Known as the ocean's most gentle giant, the dugong's slow, relaxed behaviour is likely to have made it vulnerable to overfishing and shipping accidents.It still exists elsewhere in the world but is facing similar threats.

Prof Samuel Turvey, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), who co-authored the research study, said: "The likely disappearance of the dugong in China is a devastating loss."Scientists at ZSL and the Chinese Academy of Science reviewed all historical data on where dugongs had previously been found in China.They found there had been no verified sightings by scientists since 2000.In addition, the researchers turned to citizen science to interview 788 community members living in those coastal regions identified, to determine when local people had last seen one. On average, residents reported not having seen a dugong for 23 years. Only three people had seen one in the past five years.

This has led the researchers to declare the dugong functionally extinct - meaning "it is no longer viable... to sustain itself", Heidi Ma, postdoctoral researcher at ZSL, told the BBC. The dugong is a unique character of the sea. Weighing in at almost half a tonne, it is the only vegetarian marine mammal. Similar in appearance and behaviour to the manatee, but distinguished by its whale-like tail, its gentle - seemingly benign - disposition has led some to believe that it inspired ancient seafaring tales of mermaids. Dugongs use sensitive bristles on the end of their snout to feed on seagrass.

Dugong – pic credit twitter @AndyVermaut

Sadly, its habitat close to shore in China left it vulnerable to hunters in the 20th Century who sought the animal for its skin, bones and meat. After a notable decline in population, dugongs were classified as a grade-one national key protected animal by the Chinese State Council in 1988.But researchers believe that the continuing destruction of its habitat - including a lack of seagrass beds for feed - has caused a "rapid population collapse". Prof Turvey said its extinction in China should act as a warning to other regions that house dugongs - including Australia and East Africa - calling it "a sobering reminder that extinctions can occur before effective conservation actions are developed".

The species is found in 37 other tropical regions in the world - in particular the shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans - but is classified as "vulnerable" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list of threatened species. Countries are currently meeting in New York to sign a new UN marine treaty which would put 30% of the world's oceans in protected areas.

As stated in para 2 - Undine is a 2020 German-French romantic fantasy drama film directed by Christian Petzold. Undine Wibeau, a historian who lectures on the urban development of Berlin, is broken up with by a married man with whom she is having an affair, Johannes. She tells him that if he leaves her she will have to kill him, a reference to the myth of undine, and asks him to wait at a café for her while she delivers a lecture. After the lecture, she returns to the café to find he has left. While looking for him, a man who attended her lecture, Christoph, introduces himself to her, telling her that he is an industrial diver and asking her to have a coffee. Christoph accidentally breaks the aquarium in the café and the two are ejected. The two begin a long-distance relationship.

Undines  are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern literature and art through such adaptations as Danish Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" and the Undine of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué.

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
24^th Aug 2022.