Page 53 - World of Animals - Issue #36

L
L
L OST FOREVER
L
OST FOREVER
OST FOREVER
Steller’s

sea cow

A gentle giant hunted to extinction for its meat Russia Bering

and fur not long after it was even discovered
and fur not long after it was even discovered Sea

Rounded snout
A rounded downturned
snout helped the animal

graze efficiently. Thick blubber
Its blubber was around ten
centimetres (four inches) thick
and reportedly tasted like
almond oil. One animal was
said to feed 33 men for a month.

No teeth
Because of its diet,
the sea cow didn’t
need teeth. Instead
it had broad pads to
chew kelp.

as
s
t
een

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The Steller’s sea cow was a large herbivorous i icy cold environment with thick layers of blubber Last seen…
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marine mammal of the order Sirenia, named t to protect its internal organs and if its living Date: 17688
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a f t e r t h e m y s t e r i o u s s i r e n m e r m a i d s f r o m r relatives are anything to go by, it was likely to be Location: Russiaia
after the mysterious siren mermaids from
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G r e e k m y t h o l o g y . T h i s g r o u p h a s j u s t f o u r l i v i n g a slow-swimming gentle giant. .
Greek mythology. This group has just four living
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Due to aggressive hunting, the sea cow was
A group of explorers who found themselves
members today: three species of manatee and
m e m b e r s t o d a y : t h r e e s p e c i e s o f m a n a t e e a n d A g r o u p o f e x p l o r e r s w h o f o u n d t h e m s e l v e s D u e t o a g g r e s s i v e h u n t i n g , t h e s e a c o w w a s
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the dugong. The Steller’s sea cow was the largest shipwrecked on Bering Island during an p presumed extinct by 1768 and there have

member of the family, dwarfing the manatee and expedition discovered the sea cow in 1741 and been no recorded sightings since. Population
measuring up to nine metres (30 feet) in length while waiting to be rescued a naturalist onboard modelling has revealed that more than
and around 10,000 kilograms (10 tonnes) in weight. began to document the animal. The team also 1,500 animals would have been slaughtered
There is not much information about the hunted and fed on the marine mammals to between 1741 and 1768 to lead to its demise.
giant creature and not many people know it survive as the enormous size of the sea cow “They were an
even ever existed possibly due to the fact that it meant they were an excellent source of food for
disappeared 250 years ago. The large sea cow Russian hunters. Word soon spread amongst excellent source
wandered the Bering sea, which is just north of explorers and Bering Island and the surrounding © freevectormaps.com; Alan Batley

the North Pacific Ocean, grazing on the meadows waters soon became a popular stopover for of food for

of grass growing on the sea floor of the shallow Russian fur and meat hunters. The creature was
waters. The creature was perfectly adapted to its driven to extinction not long after. Russian hunters”
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053_Lost Forever_StellersSeaCow.indd 53 20/07/2016 16:32