A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林).
This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong.
Photo courtesy of a fisher
The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at the time, although he took images and videos of the animal.
The photos have made waves within the public as well as the marine biology community, both in Taiwan and Japan.
“Not just a legend! The beautiful myth reappears in Taiwan,” said Jeng Ming-hsiou (鄭明修), head of Academia Sinica’s biodiversity research center, referencing how dugongs are sometimes considered the origin of mermaid myths.
The most recent record of a dugong in Taiwan were remains found in 1986, later sent to a museum for preservation, Jeng said.
He said he had personally traveled to Japan to study the animals, but only briefly caught a glimpse of them, adding that Japanese researchers tracking dugongs would be very interested in this finding.
In modern Taiwanese history, there has been no record of live dugongs caught in the wild, Taiwan Cetacean Society secretary-general Tseng Cheng-tsung (曾鉦琮) said.
Finding one in Yilan is unexpected, Tseng said, adding that it may have originated in Okinawa and followed ocean currents and food to Taiwan.
Dugongs are related to manatees, although they differ in their tail structure, Tseng added.
They feed on seagrass and so mainly inhabit shallow waters in Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Okinawa, meaning there is limited information on them in Taiwan, he added.
In the past, dugongs were hunted in large numbers for their skin, meat and bones, leading to a sharp decline in their population.
They now face severe issues around marine habitat loss.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS