Did Steller's sea cow go extinct? Could some sea cows have survived extinction? Have there been sightings of sea cows that somehow survived? A marine biologist answers these questions.
00:00 - Steller's Sea Cow Sightings
01:02 - Steller's Sea Cow Facts
02:45 - Megafauna Extinctions
05:21 - Georg Wilhelm Steller
07:12 - Sea Otters and Kelp Forests
08:52 - Is Steller's Sea Cow Still Alive?
10:19 - Steller's Sea Cow Sightings Explained
In July of 1962, a Soviet ship exploring the Bering Sea reportedly spotted a herd of strange animals that swam slowly, diving for short periods of time. Their skin was dark, the head small, and the upper lip overhung the lower one. The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union claimed this was Steller’s sea cow, a large marine mammal that was hunted to extinction 200 years earlier.
Steller's sea cows were fully aquatic herbivores that were highly adapted to the cold, north Pacific Ocean. One of these adaptations was layer of blubber and thick skin that was so substantial, sea cows were unable to dive or fully submerge. Instead, sea cows bobbed around grazing on the surface canopy of kelp forests. It’s believed sea cows couldn’t reach food more than 1 meter or 3.3 feet deep. This is the first clue that Soviet whalers didn’t see Steller’s sea cow. Because the report clearly states that “the animals periodically dived for a short time.” Diving was physically impossible for Steller’s sea cow. Instead, they bobbed around grazing on the surface canopy of kelp forests.
Another clue is where the Steller's sea cows were allegedly sighted, in the Gulf of Anadyr. This was once part of Steller’s sea cow historic range but by 1741, their range had severely contracted to the shallow seas around the Commander islands and their numbers had shrunk to a fraction of their once large population. To solve this mystery, we need to look at clues left behind from ice age woolly mammoths the role sea otters played in the disappearance of Steller’s sea cow.
My favorite organizations that are protecting wild sea otters:
[1] https://www.elakhaalliance.org/
[2] https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/stories/the-feel-good-science-behind-sea-otter-surrogacy
[3] https://www.seaottersavvy.org/
[4] https://www.alaskasealife.org/
Sources:
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4743786/
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8044168/
[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1617197/
[4] https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2025/02/the-push-is-on-to-return-sea-otters-to-oregon-northern-california-coasts.html
[5] https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-how-the-rise-and-fall-of-co2-levels-influenced-the-ice-ages/
[6] https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/media/translated_publications/Berzin%26amp%3B%252063.pdf
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