Hydrodamalis gigas

Skeleton

19' l x 5' w x 3' h
[ 5.8 m x 1.5 m x 1 m ]

(Recent)

"Steller's Sea Cow" was a giant dugongid sirenian, and possibly the largest recent non-creacean mammal at around 24 feet long and anywhere between 3,000-10,000 pounds in weight. Fossil material indicates a wide distribution across this region during the Pleistocene, however, by the last Holocene it was restricted to shallow waters around the uninhabited Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.

These relict populations were discovered in 1741 and studied by Georg Steller before the islands became regular stopping-off points for Russian fur hunters. The last sea cow was killed in 1768 on Bering Island, making it one of the few truly megafaunal mammals to have become exinct during the historic time.

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