People might go to the movies to escape reality. Yet Barbie and Ariel choose to live in the world their audiences inhabit − and, in doing so, decide to die.
From Fiji to France to Central Australia, stories abound of lands lost beneath the sea. Some are likely founded on millennia-old memories of coastal submergence, offering us clues today.
While the other members of the Sirenia are found in the Atlantic, the dugong is the only sea cow found in the Indian Ocean and south-western Pacific. This highlights its deep African connections.
Even if mermaids aren’t real, they’ll likely feature in human stories for many years to come. Very few mythical creatures are found in so many diverse cultures, across so many years without changing.