Stellar's Sea Cow

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Subphylum Vertebrata

Class Mammalia

Order Sirenia

Family Dugongidae

Genus Hydrodamalis

Species gigas

Stellar's Sea Cow was more closely related to dugongs than manatees, though it was a separate genus from the modern day Dugong itself. It lived in the Bering sea, stretching from Alaska to Kamchatka. They could reach lengths of over 30 feet, and weighed up to 8,800 pounds! It is believed they grew this large to avoid the ill effects of the cold waters in the north, and to protect against predators.

The Stellar's Sea Cow was algivorous, feeding mainly off of kelp. It had no known natural predators. But humans were the major predator of the Stellar's Sea Cow, from 1741-1768, and hunted them to extiction.

Stellar's Sea Cows were described as monogamous, and as being quite protectiive of their young.

Stellar's Sea Cows were bouyant, and could not dive, unlike their dugong cousins.

Stellar's Sea Cows fasted during winter, due to the lack of kelp.

In Sea Cow specimens, no "hands" are found. Some believe that this means the Stellar's Sea Cow gradually lost its hand bones over time.

While most modern sirenians are grey in color, Stellar's Sea Cow was a dark brown, with the occasional white splothces.

Stellar's Sea Cows had no teeth but instead had bony plates for grinding kelp.

Georg Wilhelm Steller discovered Hydrodamalis gigas in 1741. The native peoples of the area had already reduced their population to a very small number, about 2-3,000. Russian whalers on their way to Alaska hunted the Stellar's Sea Cow for its meat and its blubber. By 1768, a mere 27 years after its discovery, the last of the Stellar's Sea Cows died out.

The Stellar's Sea Cow was a fascinating creature, having survived the Holocene epoch, the last ice age, and native hunters until finally being slain by europeans in the eighteenth century. It serves as a reminder of how delicate many of are ocean's creatures really are, and as a warning of what could happen to the remaining sirenians in the future, if we do not protect them. They are all endangered.