No other animal has been exterminated by man as rapidly as the Steller's cow. Only some 27 years have passed since its official discovery and until its complete disappearance.

Steller's cow or sea cow (lat. Hydrodamalis gigas) (English Steller's sea cow)

Steller's cow belonged to the order of sirens, which includes 5 families, of which only 2 families have survived to us - these are manatees and dugongs. The latter included the sea cow.


She lived in the coastal zone Commander Islands, but there was also evidence that parts of her skeleton were found off the coast of Kamchatka and the Northern Kuriles.


The description of this marine animal was left only to its discoverer - Georg Steller - a doctor, naturalist and member of the expedition of Vitus Bering. He discovered this species in 1741 under very tragic circumstances - when the expedition ship was thrown ashore on the island of Avach, on which the captain himself and half of his crew died. Subsequently, this island was named after V. Bering.


It was here that Steller first saw a sea cow, which he initially mistook for an ordinary manatee and gave him the name "manat". Later this animal was named after the explorer, and the Latin name Hydrodamalis gigas This species was given by Retzius in 1794.


Her appearance can also be judged only by the description left by Steller. It was a huge sedentary animal, reaching 10 meters in length and weighing about 4 tons. A small head smoothly turned into a huge body, which ended in a forked tail, reminiscent of a whale's tail. Like cetaceans, they lacked hind limbs.


Steller cow skull

This animal had no teeth, since its main food was large seaweeds and other aquatic and semi-aquatic plants. Because of their herbivorous diet, these extinct animals were called sea cows.


Steller's cow lived in the shallow waters of the coastal zone. She practically did not know how to dive. But high density bones provided her with low buoyancy, which no other aquatic animal had. This gave the animal the opportunity for a long time to be at the bottom and “pinch the grass” without spending energy on diving. Periodically, she raised her head above the surface to take a breath of air.


The sea cow was a completely gullible and harmless creature, which paid the price. People began to hunt these animals a long time ago, when their numbers were still quite large and the habitat was not limited only to northern part Pacific Ocean, but also extended from the Ryu-Kyu Islands to California. On the Commander Islands, they survived only because by that time they had not yet been mastered by man.


This animal was ruthlessly exterminated because of its subcutaneous fat, which had a pleasant taste and could be stored for a long time on hot days, and its tender meat was compared to beef in taste.

But already in 1768, the Steller's cow disappeared from the face of the earth. Of course, some people claim to have seen small flocks of these animals. But there is no official confirmation of these words.


Thus, from the moment of its official discovery to its complete disappearance, only a little more than a quarter of a century passed. And Georg Steller became the only natural scientist who managed to see these animals alive and leave a detailed description of them.

One of the most bitter reminders of human cruelty is the story of the Steller's cow (lat. Hydrodamalis gigas). Its other names are sea cow or cabbage. It was first discovered off the coast of the Commander Islands in 1741, and after 27 years the last representative of the species living there was killed.

Yes, yes, it took a little more than a quarter of a century to completely exterminate the population of more than 2 thousand individuals. People tried very hard: at least 170 heads were killed a year, and the peak of this bloody massacre came in 1754, when five thousand cabbages were destroyed at once. At the same time, no measures were taken to preserve and maintain the number of animals.

misfortune sea ​​cow began in 1741, when the ship "Saint Peter" was wrecked near one of the small islands, later named after the ship's captain Vitus Bering. On this godforsaken island, the team was forced to stay for the winter. Unfortunately, not everyone survived it, and the captain was among the dead. To survive, the sailors were forced to capture one of the strange marine animals that eat algae near the shore.

Its meat turned out to be not only tasty, but also useful. Strength quickly returned to the sick, and soon the team was able to build a new ship to return home on it. Among the survivors was the naturalist Georg Steller, who described sea cows in detail. True, the scientist himself was sure that in front of him, and only in 1780 the German zoologist Zimmerman was able to prove that this is absolutely the new kind.

What did this animal look like? According to Steller, it was a huge and very clumsy creature, whose body length reached 7.5-10 meters and weighed 3.5-11 tons. His torso was very thick, and his head seemed very small against his background. The forelimbs were rounded flippers with one joint in the center. They ended in a small horny growth, similar to a horse's hoof. Instead of hind limbs, cabbage had a powerful forked tail.

The skin of Steller's cow was very durable. It was even often used to make sea boats. It was so folded and thick that it looked a bit like oak bark. Such protection was needed to save from sharp coastal stones, especially when the sea was rough.

Almost all of their time, sea cows have been eating algae. They were so engrossed in the process that they let the boats with the hunters safely float between them, choosing suitable prey. It is very difficult to call the “hunt” itself otherwise than a brutal reprisal. Well, judge for yourself: at first, the harpooner drove his deadly weapon, and then about 30 people dragged the unfortunate to the shore. Of course, the wounded animal desperately resisted and suffered.

Finally, extremely exhausted, the cabbage was dragged ashore and finished off. Sometimes pieces of meat were cut off directly from a live cow, which caused that incredible suffering. But the most unpleasant thing is that this method of fishing made it possible to pull out only one of the five animals, while the rest died in the water.

Interestingly, after the extermination of Steller's cow, scientific world several times excited messages about the meeting of people with these unique creatures. Unfortunately, none of them have been confirmed yet. Last news refer to June 2012: according to some online publications, the Steller's cow is alive - a population of 30 individuals was found off a small island belonging to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The melting of the ice made it possible to penetrate into its most remote corners, where cabbage plants were found. Let's hope that the rumors are true, and humanity will be able to correct its fatal mistake.

Steller's cow, sea cow, or cabbage butterfly (Hydrodamalis gigas) was discovered as a species in 1741 by the expedition of Vitus Bering. Belongs to the mammals of the order of sirens.

The name was given in honor of the naturalist Georg Steller (expedition doctor V. Bering), who first described this animal.

Steller's cow lived only off the coast of the Commander Islands, Predatory exterminated for meat, and completely disappeared by 1768. In just 27 years….

Modern paleontological data show that in the prehistoric era, its range was noticeably wider.

Commander Islands and the nearest part of Kamchatka

Although the Steller's cow is recognized as extinct, nevertheless, there is unverified evidence that even after the 1760s, sea cows occasionally came across to the natives of the Russian Far East.

So, in 1834, two hunters claimed that on the coast of Bering Island they saw “a lean animal with a cone-shaped body, small forelimbs, which breathed through the mouth and had no hind fins.” And such messages, according to some researchers, were quite frequent in the 19th century.

There are several testimonies, also left unconfirmed, that the Steller's cow was seen in the 20th century. So, in 1962, members of the team of a Soviet whaler allegedly observed in the Gulf of Anadyr a group of six animals, the description of which was similar to the appearance of a Steller's cow.

In 1966, a note about the observation of a Steller's cow was even published in the newspaper Kamchatsky Komsomolets.

And in 1976, the editors of the magazine "Around the World" received a letter from the Kamchatka meteorologist Yu. V. Koev, who said that he had seen a Steller's cow near Cape Lopatka. He wrote that "... I can say that in August 1976, in the area of ​​​​Cape Lopatka, I saw a Steller's cow. What allows me to make such a statement? Whales, killer whales, seals, sea lions, fur seals, sea otters and walruses have been seen many times. This animal is not like any of the above. The length is about five meters. It swam very slowly in shallow water. As if rolling like a wave. First, a head with a characteristic growth appeared, then a massive body and then a tail. Yes, yes, which attracted my attention (by the way, there is a witness). Because when a seal or a walrus swims like this, their hind legs are pressed to each other, and it is clear that these are flippers, and this one had a tail like a whale's. It seems ... that each time she emerged with her stomach up, slowly rolling her body. And she put her tail like a whale "butterfly" when the whale goes into the depths ... ".

However, none of the sightings have been confirmed. Some enthusiasts and cryptozoologists suggest that there is still a small population of Steller cows in remote and hard-to-reach areas of the Kamchatka Territory.

Steller's cow was very large. In terms of length and body weight, she probably surpassed all the others. aquatic mammals, except for cetaceans, reaching seven to eight meters in length, and weighing five or more tons! She was even larger than her closest relative and probable ancestor - the extinct hydrodamalis cuesta (Hydrodamalis cuestae) (body length more than nine meters with a probable mass of up to ten tons).

Steller's cow led a sedentary life, keeping mostly near the shore, but was probably not able to dive. This animal fed exclusively on seaweed, and above all, sea kale, for which it received its second name - "cabbage".

Steller's cow was a very slow and apathetic animal, and was not afraid of humans. It was these factors that contributed to its rapid disappearance. In addition, the overall low population at the time of discovery, about 2,000, also played a role. Apparently, she had no natural enemies.

Museums around the world preserve a significant number of skeletal remains of the Steller's cow, including several complete skeletons, as well as pieces of their skin.

Sketch of a female Steller's cow described and measured G. Steller.
It is considered the only image of a cow made from life.

Steller's sea cow. Drawing by Sven Waxel

As already mentioned, for the first time Europeans saw Steller cows in November 1741 (except for hypothetical contacts with them by prehistoric inhabitants of Asia and North America, as well as later aboriginal tribes of Siberia), when the ship of Commander Vitus Bering "Saint Peter" crashed while trying to anchor off the island, later named after Bering.

Georg Steller, naturalist and physician of the expedition, was the only specialist with a natural science education who personally saw and described this extinct species.

After the shipwreck, he noticed from the shore in the sea several large oblong objects, similar from afar to the bottoms of overturned boats, and soon realized that he had seen the backs of large aquatic animals.

However, the first cow was obtained by people from this expedition only at the end of their 10-month stay on the island, 6 weeks before departure. Eating the meat of sea cows greatly helped travelers, supporting their strength during the laborious construction of a new ship.

Most of the later messages are based on the work of G. Steller "On the animals of the sea" ( De bestiis marinis), first published in 1751.

Georg Steller believed he saw a manatee ( Trichechus manatus), and in his notes he identified the Steller's cow with him, arguing that this is an animal that in the Spanish possessions in America is called "manat" ( manati).

As a new species, the Steller's cow was described only in 1780 by the German zoologist E. Zimmerman.

Commonly recognized name Hydrodamalis gigas(the generic name literally means “water cow”, the specific name means “giant”) was given by the Swedish biologist A. Ya. Retzius in 1794.

An important contribution to the study of the Steller's cow was made by the American zoologist, biographer of G. Steller, Leonard Steineger, who conducted research on Commanders in 1882-1883 and collected a large number of the bones of this animal.

The appearance of the Steller's cow is characteristic of all sirenians, with the exception that it was much larger than its relatives.

The body of the animal was thick and rolled, the head, in comparison with the size of the body, was very small, and the animal could freely move its head both sideways and up and down.

The limbs were relatively short rounded flippers with a joint in the middle, ending in a horny outgrowth, which was compared with a horse's hoof. The body ended in a wide horizontal tail blade with a notch in the middle.

The skin of the Steller's cow was naked, folded and extremely thick, in the words of G. Steller, it resembled the bark of an old oak. Skin color was gray to dark brown, sometimes with whitish spots and stripes.

One of the German researchers, who studied a preserved piece of Steller's cow skin, found that in terms of strength and elasticity it is close to the rubber of modern car tires! Perhaps this property of the skin was a protective device that saved the animal from injury from stones in the coastal zone.

The ear holes were so small that they were almost lost in the folds of the skin. The eyes were also very small, according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses - no more than those of a sheep. But the Steller's cow had no teeth, she ground the food with the help of two horn plates white color(one for each jaw). The males were apparently somewhat larger than the females.

Steller's cow practically did not give sound signals. She usually only snorted, exhaling air, and only when injured could she make loud moaning sounds. Apparently, this animal had good hearing, as evidenced by the significant development of the inner ear. However, the Steller's cows hardly reacted at all to the noise of the boats approaching them.

The largest documented length of a sea cow is 7.88 meters.

As for body weight, it was very significant - about several tons, according to various sources from 4 to 11 tons, which is even heavier African elephant! Those. the Steller's cow by weight was apparently in first place among all mammals leading an aquatic lifestyle, with the exception of cetaceans (surpassing even such a giant as the southern elephant seal in average weight).

Most of the time Steller's cows foraged by swimming slowly in shallow water, often using their forelimbs to support themselves on the ground. They did not dive, and their backs were constantly sticking out of the water. They often sat on the back of cows sea ​​birds, pecked out from the folds of the skin of crustaceans (whale lice) attached there.

Usually, the female and the male kept together with the young of the year and the young of the last year, but in general, the cows usually "grazed" in numerous herds.

The life expectancy of a Steller's cow, like that of its closest relative, the dugong, could reach 90 years. natural enemies This animal is not described, but Steller spoke of cases of cows dying under ice in winter. He also said that in a storm cabbage, if they did not have time to move away from the coast, often died from hitting stones during heavy seas.

The dugong is the closest relative of the Steller's cow.

Calculations made in the 1880s by Steineger indicate that the population of Steller's cows in their entire range at the time of the discovery of this species hardly exceeded 1500-2000 individuals.

In 2006, an assessment was made of all the factors that could lead to the rapid disappearance of Steller cows. The results showed that with an initial population of 2000 individuals, predatory hunting alone would have been more than enough to exterminate within two to three decades.

According to some studies, the range of the Steller's cow expanded significantly during the peak of the last glaciation (about 20 thousand years ago), when the Arctic Ocean was separated from the Pacific by land, located on the site of the modern Bering Strait, Beringia. The climate in the Pacific Northwest was milder than today, which allowed the Steller's cow to settle far north along the coast of Asia.

Fossil finds dating back to the late Pleistocene confirm the wide distribution of the Sirenidae order in this geographical area.

In the 1960s and 70s, individual bones of the Steller's cow were also found in Japan and California. The only known find of relatively complete skeletons outside its known range was made in 1969 on the island of Amchitka (Aleutian ridge), the age of three skeletons found there was estimated at 125-130 thousand years.

The habitat of the Steller's cow in a limited range near the Commander Islands dates back to the onset of the Holocene. Researchers do not exclude that in other places the cow disappeared in prehistoric times due to persecution by local hunting tribes. However, some American researchers believed that the range of the cow could have been reduced even without the participation of primitive hunters. In their opinion, the Steller's cow was already on the verge of extinction due to natural causes by the time of its discovery.

Industrialists who came to the Commander Islands, who hunted sea otters there, and researchers hunted Steller cows for their meat.

The usual way to catch Steller cows was to harvest with a hand harpoon. Sometimes they were killed with the use firearms. The method of catching Steller cows was described in great detail by Steller:

“... We caught them using a large iron hook, the tip of which resembled an anchor paw; we attached its other end with an iron ring to a very long and strong rope, which was dragged from the shore by thirty people ... Having harpooned a sea cow, the sailors tried to immediately sail to the side so that the wounded animal would not overturn or break their boat with blows of a powerful tail. After that, the people who remained on the shore began to pull the rope and persistently drag the animal, which was desperately resisting, to the shore. The people in the boat, meanwhile, urged the animal on with another rope and exhausted it with constant blows, until, exhausted and completely motionless, it was pulled ashore, where it was already struck with bayonets, knives and other weapons. Sometimes large pieces were cut off from a living animal, and, resisting, it hit the ground with such force with its tail and fins that pieces of skin even fell off the body ... From the wounds inflicted in the back of the body, blood flowed in a stream. When the wounded animal was under water, the blood did not gush out, but as soon as he stuck his head out to grab a breath of air, the flow of blood resumed with the same force ... "

With this method of fishing, only a part of the cows fell into the hands of people, the rest died in the sea from wounds, according to some estimates, the hunters received only one out of five harpooned animals.

From 1743 to 1763, several parties of industrialists with a total number of up to 50 people wintered on the Commander Islands. They all mercilessly slaughtered sea cows for meat.

By 1754, sea cows were completely exterminated off about. Copper. It is believed that the last cow from Fr. Bering was killed by an industrialist named Popov in 1768. In the same year, researcher Martin Sauer made an entry in his journal about their total absence at this island.

There is information that one of the members of the Bering expedition, a certain Yakovlev, claimed that in 1755 the leadership of the settlement on about. Bering issued a decree banning the hunting of sea cows. However, by that time the local population was almost completely exterminated.

The main purpose of hunting the Steller's cow was the extraction of meat. One of the members of the Bering expedition said that up to 3 tons of meat could be obtained from a slaughtered cow, and the meat of one cow was enough to feed 33 people for a month. The fat rendered from subcutaneous fat was not only used for food, but was also used for lighting. Poured into a lamp, it burned without smell and soot. The strong and thick skin of the cabbage was used to make boats.

The role of the Steller's cow in the ecological balance of the sea was very significant, primarily due to the consumption of a significant amount of algae by this animal. In those places where sea cows ate algae, the number increased sea ​​urchins, which form the basis of the nutrition of sea otters. It is noted that the prehistoric range of the Steller's cow coincided with the range of the sea otter. In general, experts believe that the ecological relationship between the Steller's cow and the sea otter was significant.

When the sea cows disappeared, large algae formed continuous thickets in the coastal strip of the Commander Islands. The result of this was the stagnation of coastal waters, their rapid "bloom" and the so-called "red tides", named because of the red color of the water due to intensive reproduction. unicellular algae - dinoflagellates. toxins (some of which stronger than poison curare!), produced certain types dinoflagellates can accumulate in the body of mollusks and other invertebrates, reaching fish, sea otters and sea birds along the trophic chain, and lead to their death.

The bone remains of Steller's cows have been studied quite fully. Their bones are not uncommon, since people still come across on the Commander Islands. Museums around the world have a significant number of bones and skeletons of this animal; 59 world museums have such exhibits.

Several remnants of the skin of a sea cow are also preserved. Models of a Steller's cow, reconstructed from a high degree accuracy, are available in many museums. Among this number of exhibits there are several well-preserved skeletons.

Skeleton of a Steller's cow in the Zoological Museum named after Benedikt Dibowski in Lviv

Steller's cow skeletons are in the Zoological Museum of Moscow University, it was collected in 1837, the Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (an incomplete skeleton of an individual 6.87 meters long, found in 1855), the Paleontological Museum in Kiev (a complete skeleton, collected in 1879 -1882), the Khabarovsk Museum of Local Lore (almost a complete skeleton), the Kharkov Museum of Nature (a complete composite skeleton of 1879-1882, some elements were added in the 1970s), the Aleutian Museum of Local Lore in the village of Nikolskoye on Bering Island - an almost complete skeleton cub (discovered in 1986), Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lore (two incomplete skeletons), in the USA, in Washington, in National Museum natural history (composite skeleton, assembled in 1883 by Steineger, at the University of California at Berkeley - an almost complete skeleton composed of the bones of several individuals (acquired in 1904), at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Massachusetts (almost complete composite skeleton, probably assembled by Steineger), the Natural History Museum of London (a complete skeleton made up of the bones of two individuals), in the Museum of Edinburgh (an almost complete composite skeleton found on Medny Island by the Russian scientist D.F. Sinitsyn, delivered to the UK in 1897), in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris (two almost complete composite skeletons, acquired in 1898), in the Natural History Museum in Vienna (almost complete composite skeleton, 1897), in the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm (incomplete skeleton from bones collected in 1879 by the expedition of A. Nordenskiöld on the barque "Vega"), in the Museum of Natural History at the University of Helsinki (a complete skeleton of a young specimen 5.3 meters long, composed of bones collected in 1861 by the Chief Ruler of the Russian-American Company (Governor of Russian Alaska) I. V. Furugelm.

Skeleton of a Steller's cow at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris

Steller's cow skeleton in the Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

There is a discussion among cryptozoologists about the possibility of cloning cabbage using biological material obtained from preserved skin and bone samples.

And if Steller's cow survived to modern era, then, as many zoologists write, with her harmless disposition, she could become the first marine pet.

List of used literature

Grzimek B. Sirens: "Sea cows" // "Chemistry and Life", No. 11, 1981

The Case of the Steller's Cow // Around the World, No. 10, 1991

Animal Life // Ed. S. P. Naumova and A. P. Kuzyakina M .: "Enlightenment", 1971.

Life of animals. Volume 7. Mammals // Ed. Sokolova V.E., Gilyarov M.S., Polyansky Yu.I. etc. M.: Education, 1989.

Kalyakin V.N. Sea (steller's) cow, cabbage (cabbage). Animal world.

Sokolov V.E. Systematics of mammals. Volume 3

Skeleton of Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas). Museums of Russia (2001-2010).

A sea cow is a sea animal of enormous size. Initially, there were about 20 species of this animal, however, 3 main species are known to man:

  • Steller's cow

Steller's cow was exterminated in the 18th century. Approximately immediately after its description, people began to massively exterminate this species due to the very tasty meat, fat. Now all remaining species of sea cows are forbidden to be killed or caught, as they are declared endangered mammals.

Description


The weight of one adult is about 600 kg, but there were also larger specimens of 800 - 900 kg. The length varies from 3 to 7 meters. The body is heavy, spindle-shaped.

The upper lip and nose resembled a trunk. They had no teeth, instead they had two horny plates - on the lower jaw and in the sky. They have small eyes.

The tail resembles a large oar. Thanks to him, the manatee can easily swim, play, or even defend himself if necessary. True, the latter will not help much, because despite the fact that the manatee is very strong, the main hunters for it are the tiger shark and, against which such a tail is powerless.

The front flippers are quite small. They are designed to rake silt at the bottom and get various vegetation.

Habitat

According to their habitat and features, manatees are divided into three main varieties, namely:

  • African. African sea cows are slightly darker than their counterparts, they live in warm equatorial rivers and on the West African coast;
  • Amazon. Amazonian manatees live in fresh water, because their skin is smoother and shiny, and a white or pinkish spot can be found on the stomach;
  • American. American manatees are the largest members of the genus. They can live in both sea and salt water, most often they can be found in the Caribbean Sea.

Great depth is not suitable for these mammals. After all, there are many dangers, because they prefer shallow water up to 3 meters deep.

Nutrition. Lifestyle

Sea cows feed on plants, at the bottom of rivers and seas, that is, algae various kinds. In the morning and in the evening it is time to eat. And during the day they rest on seabed, once, in a few minutes, rising to the surface to breathe air.

Manatees eat up to 20% of their body weight daily. Therefore, they are often relocated to areas where too abundant marine vegetation pollutes the water. Thus, manatees clean the seas and rivers. These are slow, calm and good-natured animals.

reproduction


Sea cows are loners by nature. However, in the event of a threat to their relatives or in certain moments They stick together for life to protect or raise offspring. During mating season females are courted by several males.

Pregnancy lasts approximately one year. A newborn manatee weighs about 30 kilograms, and does not exceed 1.4 meters in size. At this time, he is very vulnerable, because the female does not leave him, and gradually teaches him to survive, find food, and so on.

Two years later, the lamate begins an independent life without a mother. Although these animals are single, however, it is believed that the relationship between mother and cub lasts almost their entire life. Also, despite the fact that these are very modest animals that do not really like the presence of people, there have been cases when they themselves swam up to people and played with them.

The Steller's cow is also called a sea cow or cabbage in another way. This animal belongs to the genus of sea cows, and the order of sirens.

This animal species became extinct in 1768. The cabbage girls lived near the Commander Islands, fed on algae and were famous for their delicious meat.

Steller's cow appearance

The length of the sea cow reached 8 meters, and the cabbage weighed about 4 tons. Outwardly, the sea cow differed little from its siren relatives, the only difference is its superiority in size. The body of the sea cow was thick. The head is small compared to the entire body weight, however, the cabbage lady could move her head not only in different directions, but also raise and lower it. The limbs resembled rounded flippers that ended in a horny growth. It has also been compared to a horse's hoof. The cabbage had a horizontal tail blade with a notch in the middle.

The cow's skin was very thick and wrinkled. Many scientists compared the skin of a Steller's cow with the bark of an old oak, and a German scientist who managed to compare the remains of the skin claimed that strength and elasticity are in no way inferior to modern car tires.


The eyes and ears of the sea cow were small. The sea cow had no teeth, and the cow rubbed the food that entered the oral cavity with horny plates. It is assumed that males differed from females only in size, males were, as a rule, larger.

The inner ear of the Steller cow testified to good hearing, but this animal did not react in any way to the noise of the boats that sailed up to them.

The lifestyle of the extinct Steller's cow

Basically, sea cows swam shallowly in shallow water and constantly fed. The front limbs were often used as ground support. The backs of the cabbagefish were constantly visible from the water, on which seabirds often landed and pecked out of the folds of whale lice. Sea cows were not afraid to swim close to the shore. As a rule, the female and the male were always nearby, but usually these animals were kept in a herd. Cows rested on their backs and became famous for their slowness. The life expectancy of a sea cow could reach 90 years. The cabbage practically did not make sounds, but the wounded animal was able to turn over the fishing boat.

Steller cow nutrition


The sea cow ate only seaweed that grew in coastal waters. Was considered a favorite treat sea ​​kale, for which the animal received the name "cabbage". While eating, the sea cow would pick off the algae under the water and lift its head every 3-4 minutes to breathe in the air. The sound that the cabbage made at the same time resembles the snorting of a horse. In winter, the Steller's cow lost a lot of weight. Many observers claimed that during this period of time one could even see the ribs of the animal.

Steller cow breeding

Almost nothing is known about the reproduction of Steller cows. Scientists say that cabbages are monogamous and usually mate in the spring. Researchers talk about great affection for this animal. Males swam up to the killed female for several days, along with the cubs.

Steller's cow enemies in nature

The natural enemies of the Steller's cow have not been identified, however, cases are not uncommon when cabbages died under the ice in winter, as well as in storms - those individuals that did not have time to move away from the shore crashed against stones. People hunted cabbage girls solely for the sake of meat.