Why are manatees considered as the prototype of mermaids?

When it comes to mermaids, our impression is that human beings, fishtails, slim figure, wearing long shawls, look charming. Of course, our mermaid image comes from film and television works. In fact, mermaids, like sea monsters, belong to an unknown mysterious marine life.

All mysterious unknown creatures are not groundless, and mermaids are no exception. The legend of mermaid originated in China, and later there are similar legends all over the world, and there are different opinions about the prototype of mermaid. Today, the more recognized view about the prototype of mermaid is manatee, a fat aquatic mammal. What the hell is going on here? Let's get to know each other.

The origin of mermaid

Mermaid is a modern name. At first, it was called the Jiao Ren of the South China Sea. The earliest record comes from Shan Hai Jing in Nanjing, Hainan:

The book says: the country that cares about the uncle, the country that keeps ears, the country that engraves the title, and the country that goes north are all in the south. Note: Ear removal, ear removal, ear removal is a pendant, that is, ear removal is in Zhu Yahai; Engraving, revealing his face, painting his body in scales, that is, Jiao Ren also.

There is a similar description in "Strange Stories from a Lonely Studio Searching for Ji Shen" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty:

Beyond the South China Sea, there is Jiao Ren, where the water lives like fish. If you don't waste your knitting achievements, tears will produce pearls.

There is Jiao Ren in the South China Sea. It lives in water like a fish, and it never gives up its textile work. Tears you shed when you cry can be turned into pearls.

In fact, the record of Jiao Ren is not only in these strange novels, but also in the Biography of Qin Shihuang, the sixth volume of Historical Records:

In September, the funeral began in Lishan. At the beginning of the emperor's accession to the throne, Lishan was infiltrated and the world was annexed. The world sent 700,000 people across the three springs and down the bronze sparrow terrace, leading them to shackles. The palace is full of strange things and strange things. Let the craftsman make a crossbow, and anyone who comes near will shoot it. Take mercury as a hundred rivers and seas, instill machines, there is astronomy on the top and geography on the bottom. Take mermaid cream as a candle, and it will last for a long time.

The mermaid cream in this record was extracted from the mermaid. It can be seen from this record that by the Western Han Dynasty, Jiao Ren had been called a mermaid, and this record also revealed the reason why the ever-burning lamp in Qin Shihuang's tomb remained on for a long time: mermaid fat was used.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the description of mermaid was more detailed, such as Records of the Historians:

Fish sounds like a child's crow. It has four feet and is shaped like a scorpion. It can cure cows and drown them.

Mermaid cries like a crying child, has four legs and looks like a snake head. In the Song Dynasty, the records in Tai Ping Guang Ji were very different:

Mermaid was found in the East China Sea of China. The biggest one is five or six feet long and looks like a person. Eyebrows, nose, mouth, claws and head are all beautiful women, and they are all feet. The flesh is as white as jade, without scales, with fine hairs, five colors and soft, one or two inches long. Hair like a ponytail, five or six feet long.

There are some fish in the East China Sea, the big ones are about 2 meters long, and their head characteristics are similar to those of people. They all have legs, fair skin and no scales, but they have fine hair, which is very short and long, almost the same as body length.

Judging from so many ancient records and descriptions, mermaids are not groundless. At least the ancients have witnessed their existence, especially the description of the ever-burning lamp, which further proves that the ancients not only saw mermaids (called mermaids in ancient times), but also arrested them and boiled them into oil with their fat.

But the prototype of mermaid is controversial because in this case, the records of mermaid in different dynasties are very different. Why do they all point to an animal manatee that looks nothing at all? Let's keep talking.

Manatees are mermaids?

From the above records about mermaid, we can hardly find the common ground of * * *, because in the original records, mermaid has no feet, and later it has feet. Through the description of the Southern Song Dynasty, it is more like a giant salamander, that is, a giant salamander, but compared with other descriptions, the record of the Southern Song Dynasty is too different. Giant salamander is a creature that eats pure fresh water, so let's talk about it first.

After excluding the giant salamander, we will synthesize the descriptions in some records to see why the manatee is the most suitable mermaid prototype.

Manatee is a kind of marine mammal, which is highly adapted to marine life with cetaceans. However, manatees are far from cetaceans, the former belongs to manatees, and the latter belongs to cetaceans, and manatees are closest to the land-based proboscis.

Today, manatees are divided into two families: manatees and dugongs. The animals of these two families are called manatees. But the animals under manatees are all marine animals and will not appear in fresh water, while dugong is different. They spend most of their time in the ocean and occasionally appear in fresh water, so based on the fact that the ancients have seen mermaids in both fresh water and seawater, they should be dugong.

In addition to habitat, dugong is much smaller than manatee, the largest one is only 3 meters, and the ordinary one is about 2 meters, which conforms to the description of mermaid's body shape in Taiping Guangji.

Moreover, the skin of dugong is smooth and the fine hairs on it are sparse, which also conforms to the description in Taiping Guangji. The most important thing is that dugong is timid and cautious, so the ancients generally saw it far away, and the picture was blurred when they pulled away. As a mammal, dugong's hairless head is indeed similar to human beings from a distance.

Moreover, dugong is a kind of mammal, and the female mammalian organs are also obvious. When breast-feeding, the mother dugong will hold her cub with two forelimbs, and then half of her body will leave the water. This scene looks like a woman breastfeeding from a distance.

Finally, mermaid cream. Dugong is a fragile species now. In order to obtain thick fat, they have been hunted by humans. An adult dugong can extract 50-60 Jin of oil, which is one of the important lighting materials in ancient times, and its characteristics of slow combustion and high brightness are also deeply loved by people.

Write it at the end

Mermaids are not necessarily mermaids. According to many ancient records, the mermaid should be real, but because of the different records, its prototype has become a bit confusing. Therefore, mermaid may be an extinct aquatic animal. If we find an animal that is closest to the description from the existing animals, it is dugong.