This animal with a tail similar to that of a mermaid, famous as the "mermaid of the sea," is the dugong. Unlike the mermaid's elegant tail, the dugong's face has small eyes and a big nose, giving it a cozy feel. Small eyes make the dugong look kind, but sadly, the dugong has very poor eyesight because of these small eyes. Instead, to compensate for its poor eyesight, it has developed good hearing.

Although it looks like a seal, the dugong is a mammal like a whale and needs to come up for air every 10 minutes or so. There is also a story that people saw dugongs coming out of the water to breathe and nicknamed them "mermaids of the sea."

The dugong is an animal designated as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The dugong, which is classified as vulnerable (VU) on the list of endangered species, is likely to face a serious threat of extinction in a short period of time. The dugong population has not been accurately assessed, but it has been found to be declining steadily.

The dugong, which inhabits a wide area including Australia, Cambodia, Egypt, the Philippines, and Mozambique, mainly lives in coastal areas of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It is about 3 meters long and weighs over 360 kg, but the dugong eats seagrass, not other fish.

However, these days, seagrass is disappearing due to climate change and ocean pollution. Seagrass plays a very important role in the marine ecosystem. Like trees in forests, it has the ability to capture carbon dioxide and has been called a savior in solving climate change. However, seagrass has also become a victim of the changing marine environment.

As seagrass decreases, the dugong's food supply is decreasing, increasing the risk of extinction for the dugong. The Dugong & Seagrass Conservation Project is conducting habitat management activities and research on dugongs and seagrass to protect dugongs and seagrass. It also educates people about the dugong's endangered status and climate change-related seagrass death. The Dugong & Seagrass Conservation Project operates mainly in areas where dugongs live, such as Malaysia, Mozambique, and Indonesia.

Dugongs are slow swimmers and are prone to collisions with ships. Coming up for air, they collide with passing ships, which is one of the reasons for their endangered status. Poaching is also threatening dugongs.

In China, the dugong is already extinct. Dugongs that were occasionally spotted by Chinese fishermen have not been sighted since 2008. Experts say that the dugong is already extinct in China.

In Andersen's The Little Mermaid, the princess eventually disappears into the foam. However, the Little Mermaid produced by Disney has a happy ending. It's up to us to decide what ending the sea mermaid dugong will have. We need a lot of attention and effort to ensure the dugong has a happy ending.