Research groups such as Mie University, which continued to observe the dugong, which is said to be a model of the mermaid legend, announced that it was confirmed that the dugong would open its mouth and "yawn" in the water.
The group of the Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University has been observing the underwater behavior of the female Jugon "Serena" in the aquarium in cooperation with the "Toba Aquarium" in Toba City, Mie Prefecture for 20 hours.
As a result, it was confirmed 14 times that "Serena" performed a movement similar to "yawning", in which the mouth was slowly opened to the maximum in the water and then closed rapidly after being maintained for a while.
As a result of further analysis of the situation and timing of the movement, it was found that "Serena" performs this movement when it is resting without moving in the aquarium, and the research group concluded that "the dugong also yawns". That is.
Yawning of mammals that live completely underwater was confirmed by this research group with bottlenose dolphins last year, and dugong is the second case.
Ms. Akiko Enozu of the Graduate School of Bioresource Sciences, Mie University, who conducted the research, said, "I was able to confirm it in a dugong whose evolution process is different from that of dolphins. I was talking.