8月26日，中国生物多样性保护与绿色发展基金会（下称“中国绿发会”）秘书长周晋峰表示，在过去的十年中，没有人在中国再观测到儒艮，中国的儒艮可认为已介于“功能性灭绝”和“野外灭绝”之间的状态。中国最后一次发现儒艮的记录则停留在2008年，地点在海南省的东方市。
Dugongs are now functionally extinct in China according to research led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), following no sightings of the ocean’s beloved “sea cow” grazers since 2008. Vulnerable to fishing, ship-strike, and habitat loss in the region, these gentle giants reportedly began losing the battle against these threats rapidly after the 1970s when their numbers plummeted.
根据伦敦动物学会 (ZSL) 领导的研究，儒艮现已在中国功能性灭绝，自 2008 年以来没有看到海洋中深受喜爱的“海牛”食草动物。该地区易受捕鱼、船舶撞击和栖息地丧失的影响，这些温和的巨人据报道在 1970 年代之后开始迅速输掉与这些威胁的战斗，数量急剧下降。
The functional extinction of the dugong in China is announced in a paper published to the Royal Society Open Science, for which researchers carried out extensive interviews with fishers across four southern maritime provinces in China. The aim was to gather evidence for dugongs’ survival in the region through locals’ accounts of spotting them in the wild, but the results were disappointing and yielded no recent sightings.
中国儒艮的功能性灭绝是在一篇发表于英国皇家学会开放科学的论文中宣布的，为此，研究人员对中国南部四个海洋省份的渔民进行了广泛的采访。其目的是通过当地人在野外发现儒艮的说法来收集该地区生存的证据，但结果令人失望，并且最近没有发现儒艮。
Despite reaching out to 66 communities across four provinces stretching from Hainan, to Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian, researchers found no recent evidence of dugong throughout the Chinese waters which were once their home. As such, they suggest that dugongs are now functionally extinct in the region and so their status should be reassessed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct).
尽管从海南、广西、广东和福建等四个省份的 66 个社区开展了研究，但研究人员最近在曾经是它们栖息地的中国水域中没有发现儒艮存在的证据。因此，他们认为儒艮现在在该地区已经功能性灭绝，因此它们的地位应该被重新评估为极度濒危（可能已经灭绝）。
“The likely disappearance of the dugong in China is a devastating loss,” said co-author Professor Samuel Turvey. “Their absence will not only have a knock-on effect on ecosystem function, but also serves as a wake-up call – a sobering reminder that extinctions can occur before effective conservation actions are developed.”
“儒艮在中国可能消失是一个毁灭性的损失，”合著者塞缪尔·特维教授说。“它们的缺席不仅会对生态系统功能产生连锁反应，而且还可以作为一个警钟 - 一个发人深省的提醒，即在制定有效的保护行动之前可能会发生灭绝。”
Dugongs have certainly made an impression in history, not only as the lovable sea potatoes that they are but also in mythology.
儒艮无疑在历史上留下了深刻的印象，不仅是可爱的海洋小东西，它们在神话中也是如此。
As far back as Christopher Columbus, reports have been made of mermaids and sirens – mythical humanlike creatures that have historically been blamed for “luring” sailors into unsafe waters. However, it seems more likely that these sailors were crushing on doughy dugongs, manatees, or Steller’s sea cows (which are also now extinct) as these animals may have seductively popped out of the water mermaid-style while performing a “tail stand”.
早在克里斯托弗·哥伦布 (Christopher Columbus) 时，就有关于美人鱼和海妖的报道——这些神话般的类人生物历来被指责为“引诱”水手进入不安全的水域。然而，这些水手似乎更有可能是迷上了柔软的儒艮、海牛或 Steller 海牛（现在也已经灭绝），因为这些动物可能诱人地从水中跳出来，像美人鱼表演“尾巴站立”。
While the news of their apparent extinction in China is a devastating blow, the authors behind the paper are hoping to be proven wrong. Their exhaustive surveys may have yielded no good news for the species’ survival, but they say they would “welcome any possible future evidence” that the dugong lives on in China.
虽然它们在中国明显灭绝的消息是一个毁灭性的打击，但该论文的作者希望被证明是错误的。他们详尽的调查可能没有为该物种的生存带来任何好消息，但他们表示，他们“欢迎任何未来可能的证据”证明儒艮在中国生活。