Skeleton
Recent
5.8 m x 1.5 m x 1 m
(19’ l x 5’ w x 3’ h)
Commonly known as Steller’s sea cow, this was a giant dugongid sirenian, and possibly the largest recent non-cetacean mammal at around 24 feet long and 3,000 to 10,000 pounds in weight. Fossil material indicates a wide distribution across this region during the Pleistocene. However, by the late 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 extinct during this historical time.
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