These elusive aquatic mammals are said to have inspired mermaids – but dugong habitats are shrinking and the species has long been listed as vulnerable.

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," ...

Populations of a vulnerable species of marine mammal, numerous species of abalone and a type of Caribbean coral are now threatened with extinction, an international conservation organization said ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The dugong — a marine mammal that purportedly inspired ancient mermaid tales — has been declared “functionally extinct” in China ...

Legend has it that the inspiration for mermaids comes from an elusive sea mammal, so skittish that it flees at the first sight of a human. It’s an animal that features heavily in the folklore of ...

BANGKOK (AP) — An 8-month-old dugong nurtured by marine experts after it was found lost near a beach in southern Thailand has died of what biologists believe was a combination of shock and ingesting ...

BANGKOK — A baby dugong, a large ocean mammal, that has developed an attachment to humans after being separated from its mother and getting lost off southern Thailand is being nurtured by marine ...

BANGKOK (AP) — A top marine biologist has urged Thailand’s government to speed up conservation plans for the dugong, an imperiled sea mammal, after their death toll for the year in Thai waters has ...

BANGKOK — It’s rare to see a threatened species of sea mammal in shallow waters in southern Thailand but thanks to travel restrictions that have stripped popular destinations of crowds of tourists, a ...

BANGKOK (AP) — An 8-month-old dugong nurtured by marine experts after it was found lost near a beach in southern Thailand has died of what biologists believe was a combination of shock and ingesting ...