Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Sea cows and sea cowboys

Mercows head north
An endangered manatee has been spotted up near Rhode Island, further north than it is expected, but water temperatures are up. A couple of weeks ago, New Yorkers got a look at a manatee in the Hudson River. Global warming? mmmmmmaybe... well, who's to say?

Ancient sailors thought the manatee was a mermaid - an honest mistake, perhaps, for a sailor to make after months at sea. [Link]

OK, I've always been puzzled by this. Maybe it is the case that these sailors were so desperate that they were happy to see anything with curves, but still, I have to think that this is partly because of them having a different "feminine ideal" than people have now.

(putting aside the fact that they are not only seeing these big spuds as half-woman, but they are thinking that they are mermaids -- something that doesn't even exist -- or does it?) "Honest mistake"? Kind of funny.

Picture snagged from Flickr

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, manatees don't look at all like Daryl Hannah.

Blueberry said...

I'll bet the old tyme sailors would have thought that Daryl Hannah needed a sandwich.

Michael Bains said...

Heh! A BUNCH of sandwiches!

I thought she was endearing in that flick, just like the producers wanted me to think.

I wonder if the Atlantic current up the East Coast has been changin' too. I know it's awfully warm goin' past Florida..

Michael Bains said...

Hey now! My noodley appendage was onto somethin'!

Blueberry said...

Looks like a trend, alright! You might say the South is rising! Problem is, pretty fish and sexually attractive manatees are one thing, but on land there's uglier stuff moving north, like killer bees. Yikes!