74 High Street, Colchester, CO1UE 

Admission: By Ticket Only

Doors Open: at 6:30pm for 7pm start

Capacity: is limited

Contact: Bob Kemp or John Ratford

Image: -Cultivating Canid Coexistence (C3

11th November 2026

In Search of Mermaids:

Tracking the World’s Elusive Dugongs

Dugongs, or ‘sea cows’, are among the ocean’s most elusive marine mammals and are thought to have inspired some of the earliest tales of mermaids. This talk by Patricia Davis from the Natural History Museum, Colchester follows efforts to locate and study dugong populations across Palau and Micronesia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Madagascar and the Comoros Islands. It explores how researchers are combining traditional field techniques, including snorkelling and diving surveys, with novel approaches such as drones and environmental DNA (eDNA), while also drawing on the invaluable knowledge of Indigenous and local communities. Together, these methods are helping to reveal where dugongs still survive, how they use their habitats, and what can be done to conserve these increasingly threatened ‘mermaids’ of the sea.