STELLER'S SEA COW
The
Steller’s Sea Cow was a 30 foot sea cow that used to inhabit most of the Northern Pacific Ocean, but its range was severely diminished by the time it was first spotted. Steller's Sea Cows weren't discovered until 1741 when Russian explorer Vitus Bering shipwrecked on the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.
Georg Steller was the naturalist with the expedition who named the Steller's Sea Cow, the Steller's Jay, the Steller's Sea Lion, and the Steller's Sea Eagle (he really liked his last name). The crew hunted the Steller's Sea Cows for food, oil, and skins. Steller's company only ate what they needed to survive before they were able to repair their ship. When they returned home, they spread the word about where to find these huge, tasty, easy-to-catch behemoths.
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| Sea cow I made during an Eric Carle lesson with my kids |
Steller noted that they were not scared of people at all and always stayed close to shore eating seaweed. Steller also observed that winters took their toll on the sea cows which grew very thin and seemed unable to swim far from the shore. They were highly social and would even try to rescue members of the group that were being hunted.
Here's a quote about them from Steller's journal, "It is covered with a thick hide, more like unto the bark of an ancient oak than unto the skin of an animal; the manatee’s hide is black, mangy, wrinkled, rough, hard, and tough; it is void of hairs, and almost impervious to an ax or to the point of a hook." (quote from Wikipedia)
Here's a quote about them from Steller's journal, "It is covered with a thick hide, more like unto the bark of an ancient oak than unto the skin of an animal; the manatee’s hide is black, mangy, wrinkled, rough, hard, and tough; it is void of hairs, and almost impervious to an ax or to the point of a hook." (quote from Wikipedia)
Steller's Sea Cows had the face of a manatee, but their body an tail were much more whale shaped. The Florida manatee and dugong are the only surviving members of the order Sirenia left to see today. The group, Sirenia, was named after the mytholgical Greek sirens who lured sailors to their death with beautiful songs. Sailors who had been at sea a long time also mistook them for beautiful mermaids when they were first discovered.
27 years after they were discovered there were no more. The last Steller's Sea Cow was killed in 1768.
Additional Resources:
* http://extinct-animals-facts.com/Recently-Extinct-Animal-Facts/Extinct-Steller's-Sea-Cow-Facts.shtml
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| Only drawing from Georg Steller's Log from 1743 |
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