(phone ringing and chimes) - Hi, it's Doug. A few years ago, The Natural
History Museum of Denmark announced that they had
made an important discovery. They said that they had found the skeleton of a real life mermaid and they were even going to
display it in the museum. Some people were pretty confused. Wait a second, aren't mermaid
supposed to be pretend? Was this even real? Turns out it wasn't. It was April Fool's Day and
the museum was just joking. Someone named Henry and Joanie have a question about mermaids. Let's give them a call now. (phone rings and chimes) - Hi, Doug? - Hi, Henry and Joanie? - I have a question for you. Are mermaids real? - Oh, that's a great question. Mermaids and mermen are found in all kinds
of stories and movies. There are friendly ones
like Ariel and King Triton in "The Little Mermaid" and scary-looking ones like the Merpeople in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". There's even a mermaid
on the cups of coffee that a lot of people drink. Images of mermaids really can
be seen all over the place. Now, the mermaids we watch
on TV or read about in books are just pretend, but
what about real mermaids? Do they exist? A long time ago, a lot
of people thought, "Yes." Some ancient books about nature described merpeople as real creatures along with dolphins, whales, and fish. Their proof, what they
thought were skeletons of mermaids they found on beaches, plus hundreds of stories from sailors who thought they had
actually seen merpeople swimming in the ocean. Were these sailors just lying? Or did they really see something? Before I say anything more, I'm curious. What do you think the sailors from a long time ago really saw? Now would be a good time to
pause the video and discuss. Okay, you ready? Well, one thing you might find surprising is that these aren't
the only mermaid stories that were told by people in ancient times. For example, the first Australians told stories of mermaids
called the Yawkyawks with green seaweed hair. While in ancient Japan,
people told of Ningyo, creatures with human heads
and fish-like bodies. And get this, they were
as long as a school bus. In ancient Europe, there were
even stories of blue mermen with gray beards that
would challenge sailors to a rhyming contest. If the captain of a ship was able to rhyme better than the mermen, the
merman would let the ship pass. What's especially interesting
about these mermaid stories is that these stories come
from all around the world, not just one place. How is it possible that people from completely different places, on opposite sides of the world, were all describing the same thing? They must have been seeing something at least sort of like a mermaid, right? Well, maybe. But some experts point out there is another possible explanation. A long time ago, the ocean
was a complete mystery. It was deep and dark and no one had any idea
what was down there. Anyone sailing on boats would
have seen animals like whales and sharks and dolphins
pop up out of the water, and they knew what those were because they saw them all the time. But every once in a while,
some of them might've seen a creature that they didn't recognize, something swimming far away, or something seen through the fog, or something seen at night. Like, they might see a tail
moving past them in the water or an arm popping up out of a wave, or maybe a face that almost looked human. What could this be? Could there be half-fish,
half-human creatures living in the water? Though it really seemed
like a mermaid to them, could it have been something like this? Look closely. You see the flat tail? It almost looks like a mermaid's, right? And check out those front flippers. They almost look like arms. This is a dugong, or you might be familiar
with our cousin, the manatee. And scientists think that the
shape of creatures like these might be what gave people
the idea of merpeople. In other words, people in ancient times might've mistaken animals like dugongs for being half-human, half-fish. Now, dugongs may not look
exactly like mermaids, but imagine seeing them at
night, or really far away, or even with green seaweed
wrapped around their heads. It would almost seem as
if you were looking at a real life mermaid with long green hair. And when people found
skeletons of dugongs, they were sure of it. Look closely. You notice the end of the arms? A dugong has bones that
look kind of like fingers. And check out the bones in its tail, kind of looks like a mermaid's. When people found these skeletons, they display them in places
like circuses and even museums. "Mermaids were real," they must thought and now they finally had proof. Today, it's pretty clear that merpeople don't exist in real life. I mean, if they did a lot more
people would have seen them. Like, people would have posted
videos of them, for example. And human beings have
been studying animals on land and in the ocean
for a long time now and we've never any evidence of a creature that's half of one animal
and half of another. I mean, think about that. Have you ever seen anything like a half elephant, half lizard? But even though there may not be such things as mermaids in real life, believe it or not, there
actually is kind of such a thing as a merdog. Check this out. You see the long snout, the sharp claws? Look at its teeth. It does kind of look like a dog. In fact, it even has fur like a dog. And get this it barks.
(sea lion howling) This is a sea lion and sea lions are part of the caniform group of mammals, which means dog-like. They aren't closely
related to whales or fish or anything else that lives in the ocean. When you're looking at a sea lion, you're really looking
at a real life relative of the dog family, one
that lives in water. Sea lions are the closest thing there is to being a real life merdog. Maybe we should call them that. So in summary, we have no reason for thinking mermaids exist in real life. In fact, scientists have
never found a living creature that was half one animal and half a different kind of animal. People in ancient times might've thought merpeople were real because of the human-looking traits of sea creatures like dugongs. That's all for this week's question. Thanks Henry and Joanie for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I
reached into my question jar and picked up three
questions sent in to me that I'm thinking about answering next. When this video is done playing,
you'll get to vote on one. You can choose from: "When were shoelaces invented?" "What were the first computers like?" Or, "How does a refrigerator work?" So submit your vote
when the video is over. I wanna hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious and see you next week.
