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Where are the Merlions in Singapore?
We go on the hunt for the seven ‘official’ Merlions – yeah, there are only seven – on the island
The Merlion is not a real creature. Not only in the sense that it’s a fictional half-lion, half-fish hybrid, but that it wasn’t a character in local folklore handed down through the years. It was created by a local authority – the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) – in 1964 as a mascot for the city. Fraser Brunner, then the curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, is responsible for the Merlion’s design, whose copyright is owned by the STB. So it should come as no surprise that there are only seven ‘official’ statues of the Merlion around Singapore. Here’s where to find them.