How Now Sea Cow?

In centuries past, the ocean was thought to be full of krakens, sea serpents, sea monsters and other fantastical creatures. The siren-like song of the beautiful female mermaids though is the one that was the most poignent and most romantic for ancient sailors.

The first recorded half-fish, half-human creature is Oannes, a Babylonian god from the 4th century BC who left the sea every day to return every at night. In ancient Greece the sirens lured sailors to their deaths in Homer's Odyssey, and whilst originally described as having bird bodies, they are also portrayed as fish-tailed mermaids.

When Christopher Columbus first set out to sea in 1492, he had a mermaid sighting of his own; little did he know that this encounter was actually the first written record of Manatees or Sea Cows in North America.