Biology of Mermaids: An Encounter between Science & Myth
30 October 2017, from EcoOsfera Website
A few years ago
A respected American oceanographer
wrote a article on biology,
culture and Extinction of the mermaids:
Annotations "scientific" about a mythological being.
In 1990, oceanographer and professor emeritus Karl Banse published a scientific article for the North American Association of Limnology and Oceanography on the biology, culture and extinction of the mermaids, "Mermaids - Their biology, culture and demise".
Equipped with the entire apparatus Critic of a popular science article, his text was received by some as madness and by others as a gesture of humor and irony, which aroused his curiosity.
In the opening lines, Banse establishes, paradoxically, that this work falls somewhere between science, anthropology, and anthropology. the story.
In the opening lines, Banse establishes, paradoxically, that this work falls somewhere between science, anthropology, and anthropology. the story.
His text makes constant use of inference and deduction, giving the article a strange credibility (despite the fact that that all this proves that these beings do not exist).
According to the article, mermaids are extinct beings.
It states that its disappearance is probably due to technological advances in the navigation and changes in jellyfish populations (animals lethal to the species).
Contrary to what is known Believe, this creature has no scales, instead it has rough folds like armadillos and inhabits warm waters.
By region There are three known species of sirens:
- Mermaid Mermaid (Mediterranean Sea)
- Mermaid Indica (Caribbean Sea)
- Mermaid erythraea (Red, Arabian and Indonesian Seas)
In addition, the mermaids described by Banse would have opposable thumbs, a brain developed and a broad forehead.
Because they couldn't use fire, they lacked technology and they didn't have the ability to use fire. had marine plants with suitable fibres to make baskets, ropes, or clothing.
Because they couldn't use fire, they lacked technology and they didn't have the ability to use fire. had marine plants with suitable fibres to make baskets, ropes, or clothing.
For this reason, Banse compares civilization with the Stone Age and deduces that they were breeding oysters and seagrasses for food.
Its structure socio-political society was relatively advanced, they practiced trade and They used some object as money, perhaps shells or shells. shells of Nordic seas, Banse speculates, difficult to in their natural habitat.
In addition, they communicated to through sounds, as other marine animals do.
The mermaid, as a mythological being, appears under two aspects Main:
- The Fish-Woman
- The Bird-Woman
In the classical world they were Beautiful women with bird body, inhabitants of areas They are the daughters of the nymph Calliope and the river Achelous.
They were able to sing sweet melodies to attract walkers and then devour them.
Subsequently, they were depicted as women with fishtail, sea deities who bewitched sailors to sink their ships and then feed on their bodies.
Recall that Ulysses asks his companions (prepared with wax plugs in their ears) to be moored to the mast of the ship so that you can hear its beautiful I sing without losing my life.
Mermaids are creatures that suffer from their dual nature, such as the This is the case of the protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's story.
Mermaids are creatures that suffer from their dual nature, such as the This is the case of the protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen's story.
Symbols of the inferiority and the vileness of women in the Christian world, portrayed in medieval bestiaries, mermaids symbolize the Woman as the origin of worldly temptations, lust and wish:
beings that enchant and they deprive men of reason.
Regardless of the At the end of Karl Banse's article, his text evokes the same thing as the fairy photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths in the 19th century, or it might even remind us what was tried to be established in Animal Planet's controversial documentary "Mermaids, the Body Found" (video below) and the many, many Testimonials of sightings:
Men have the primal need,
- to transform our body into that of Fantastic Beings
- to endow our symbols and archetypes with our own Fears
- to live with the constant doubt about whether there is something in the this wide world that we've overlooked, something that we haven't uncovered.