Viral Sach: Mermaid found in India?

Several videos of a strange creature, supposedly a mermaid (or Jalpari), have gone viral and caught many eyeballs on the Internet.

Some social media users claimed a mermaid was found on the bank of river Ganga in Patna while others said the 'sea creature' was seen in the coastal state of Odisha.

NEW DELHI: Several videos of a strange creature, supposedly a mermaid (or Jalpari), have gone viral and caught many eyeballs on the Internet. Some social media users claimed a mermaid was found on the bank of river Ganga in Patna while others said the 'sea creature' was seen in the coastal state of Odisha. A Facebook user while sharing pictures of this so-called mermaid wrote, "Breaking news from Bhagalpur. A live mermaid was found in Ganga river. It weighs more than 100kg. It has strong hands and fingers resembling those of a man". Another Facebook user wrote, "This 'jalpari' was found near my home in east Medinapur, West Bengal. I don't know if its real or not". There were others who claimed these videos to be of Navi Mumbai. We know that Mermaids are mythological aquatic creatures with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. They do not exist in reality. Zoologists say mermaids can only be found in stories. "It's a mythological creature that appears in stories. Biologically, it doesn't exist," Prof Manoj Tiwari, head of Zoology department, Delhi University said. If you'll watch the video below, you'll know that the so-called mermaid that grabbed the attention of the social media is actually an animatronic sculpture made up of wood and fiber. The sculpture also has a motor in the throat to simulate breathing.