Did Columbus Really See Mermaids?

Yeah, so this is why. Columbus actually saw three humble manatees who were just floating around minding their own business, and mistook them as legendary mermaids. This actually explains why he described them "not half as beautiful as they were painted."

To be completely fair, Columbus isn't exactly alone in his confusion. It is thought that manatees (as well as dugongs and the now-extinct Steller's sea cows) were quite often mistaken for mermaids in the days of yore, to the point that Encyclopedia Britannica notes they're commonly known as "sirenians." How art and legend managed to turn these blobby, 1,200-pound creatures with wacky snouts and weirdly intelligent eyes into the beautiful fish-tailed ladies Columbus presumably referred to is anyone's guess. Presumably, imagination can take some pretty strange twists and turns when you spend weeks and months at sea.

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