The Truth About Mermaids: Animal Planet Reveals ‘New Evidence’; National Oceanic Administration Releases Official Statement [VIDEO]

After television channel Animal Planet revealed supposedly new evidence of the existence of mermaids, the truth about mermaids has been muddled, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an official statement following the broadcast.

An episode called "Mermaids: The New Evidence" was aired on Animal Planet on Sunday. As a sequel to a previous fictional documentary called "Mermaids: The Body Found," the new video footage depicts an animated mermaid leaping into the sea.

After watching the episode, many viewers were convinced that the mermaids were real creatures, but Charlie Foley, who was the writer and the executive producer of the mermaid "documentary," explained that the appearance of the mermaid was simply a staged act.

Foley said to Mother Nature Network that he called the fake video a documentary simply because he wanted to convince viewers that mermaids were real.

Foley said further, "I suppose the human psyche is fascinated by mermaids because they're an idealized version of ourselves. The idea of a humanoid creature that lives in the ocean and can breathe underwater."

Foley explains people's fascination with mermaids, saying "Mermaids belong to a world we know and a world from which we come, but which is now alien to us: That's the world of the oceans, and so we identify with them even as they occupy a place of mystery for us."

After the broadcast of the mermaid video footage on Animal Planet, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an official statement on the existence of these mythical creatures.

According to the statement, "No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That's a question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists."

See below for a video teaser of Animal Planet's "Mermaids: The New Evidence."

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