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KF5JRV > TODAY 09.01.25 10:32l 14 Lines 2068 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 3353_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 09
Path: IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<VK5RSV<K7EK<KA1VSC<WG3K<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 250109/0929Z 3353@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK6.0.23
On January 9, 1493, explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing near what is now the Dominican Republic, records in his ship's journal that, on the previous day, he saw three “mermaids”in reality manateesand describes them as “not half as beautiful as they are painted.” Six months earlier, Columbus (1451-1506) set off from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean with the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, hoping to find a western trade route to Asia. Instead, his voyage, the first of four he would make, led him to the Americas, or “New World.”
Mermaids, mythical half-female, half-fish creatures, have existed in seafaring lore at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. Typically depicted as having a womans head and torso, a fishtail instead of legs and holding a mirror and comb, mermaids live in the ocean and, according to some legends, can take on a human shape and marry mortal men. Mermaids are closely linked to sirens, another folkloric figure, part-woman, part-bird, who live on islands and sing seductive songs to lure sailors to their deaths.
Mermaid sightings by sailors, when they werent made up, were most likely manatees, dugongs or Stellers sea cows (which became extinct by the 1760s due to over-hunting). Manatees are slow-moving aquatic mammals with human-like eyes, bulbous faces and paddle-like tails. It is likely that manatees evolved from an ancestor they share with the elephant. The three species of manatee (West Indian, West African and Amazonian) and one species of dugong belong to the Sirenia order. As adults, theyre typically 10 to 12 feet long and weigh 800 to 1,200 pounds. Theyre plant-eaters, have a slow metabolism and can only survive in warm water.
Manatees live an average of 50 to 60 years in the wild and have no natural predators. However, they are an endangered species. In the U.S., the majority of manatees are found in Florida, where scores of them die or are injured each year due to collisions with boats.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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