Steller's sea cow
Bering's lost giant
Steller's sea cow was a massive marine mammal related to manatees and dugongs, discovered in 1741 near the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.
It grew up to thirty feet long and was hunted to extinction within three decades of its discovery—one of the swiftest extinctions of a large animal in recorded history.
Named for naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, who documented it during a shipwrecked expedition.
Large aquatic herbivorous mammal
- dugongHerbivorous marine mammal
- aquatic mammalWarm-blooded ocean creature
- herbivorePlant-only consumer
- kelpLarge brown marine algae
seagrass · marine mammal · gentle · slow-moving · grazing · flippers · blubber · buoyant
Vanished flightless bird
- passenger pigeonExtinct migratory North American dove
- great aukExtinct flightless North Atlantic seabird
- thylacineExtinct Australian striped marsupial
- quaggaPartially striped extinct zebra
overhunting · biodiversity loss · eighteenth century · 1768 · hunted · vanished · conservation · endangered species
Extremely large and heavy
- enormousExtremely large in scale
- giantBeing of huge size
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
- PleistoceneAncient glacial geological period
colossal · tonnage · bulk · slow · lumbering · ancient lineage
Student of nature
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- observationAttentive watching or remark
- shipwreckDestroyed vessel at sea
- documentedPreserved in official records
journal · sketch · description · specimen · eyewitness · voyage · stranded · taxonomy
North Pacific marginal sea
- KamchatkaFar eastern Russian peninsula
- Aleutian IslandsVolcanic arc below Bering Sea
- North PacificUpper half of largest ocean
- subarcticZone south of Arctic
kelp forest · coastal waters · rocky shores · island ecosystem · remote · isolated · pristine
manatee
Large aquatic herbivorous mammal
- dugongHerbivorous marine mammal
- aquatic mammalWarm-blooded ocean creature
- herbivorePlant-only consumer
kelp · seagrass · marine mammal · gentle · slow-moving · grazing · flippers · blubber · buoyant · shallow waters
dodo
Vanished flightless bird
- passenger pigeonExtinct migratory North American dove
- great aukExtinct flightless North Atlantic seabird
- thylacineExtinct Australian striped marsupial
quagga · overhunting · biodiversity loss · eighteenth century · 1768 · hunted · vanished · conservation · endangered species · cautionary tale
massive
Extremely large and heavy
- enormousExtremely large in scale
- giantBeing of huge size
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
Pleistocene · colossal · tonnage · bulk · slow · lumbering · ancient lineage
naturalist
Student of nature
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- observationAttentive watching or remark
- shipwreckDestroyed vessel at sea
documented · journal · sketch · description · specimen · eyewitness · voyage · stranded · taxonomy
Bering Sea
North Pacific marginal sea
- KamchatkaFar eastern Russian peninsula
- Aleutian IslandsVolcanic arc below Bering Sea
- North PacificUpper half of largest ocean
subarctic · kelp forest · coastal waters · rocky shores · island ecosystem · remote · isolated · pristine
- extinctionmass extinction, dodo, extinct, extinction event, extinction rate
- Extinct Animalsdinosaur, dinosaurs, tyrannosaurus, dodo, mammoth
- prehistoric mammalsmammoth, mastodon, woolly mammoth, saber-toothed cat, dire wolf
- sea cowsmanatee, dugong
- Afrotheriaelephant, elephants, mammoth, mastodon, manatee
- Prehistoric Animalsdinosaur, dinosaurs, T-Rex, Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus
Steller's sea cowAmerican bison
North America's largest land mammal
gray whale · California condor · humpback whale · bald eagle