The Diving Bell

The Steller Sea Cows were about 20 ft (2.9 meters) long and weighed almost 4 tons (11,190 kilograms). It was related to the smaller Manatees and the Dugong, which live in tropical waters. The estimated 2000 Steller’s Sea Cows inhabited the shallow cold waters around the Kommandorskye and Blizhnie Islands in the Bering Sea. The isolation of these islands from humanity is probably why they were last found there. In recent history, they were reported by the German naturalist Georg Steller of the Russian ship “St. Peter” when they shipwrecked off the coast of Kamchatka in 1741. Spending the winter stranded on the island, the crew ate various animals on the island and liked the meat of the Steller’s Sea Cow most of all. Word quickly spread of the tasty sea cows. In the following years, whalers, seal hunters, and explorers all stopped at the islands to eat Steller’s Sea Cow. Approximately only one out of five cows harpooned or shot were ever recovered for food. Most of them died at sea, uneaten by the humans. In 1768, explorer Martin Sauer entered in his journal an account of the death of the last known Steller's Sea Cow. Only 27 years after the crew of the “St. Peter” first discovered these sea cows, the Steller's Sea Cow became extinct. 1, 2

Steller’s Sea Cows may not have been an exciting or beautiful animal, but its loss and the loss of multitudes of other creatures is permanent. Their unique properties and traits are lost forever. Zoos, once established to showcase animals to the public, now find themselves with the last survivors. Zoos have now become a source of animals for reintroduction back into the wild.

Humanity is now the steward of planet Earth. We are now directly responsible for the survival or extinction of most species on our home turf. True, a number of mass extinctions have occurred over time, but in recent geological time, human activity rather than natural events are causing the current rash of extinctions.

There are many factors in the current extinctions such as hunting, habitat loss, depleted resources, pollution, and introduction of non-native species. The expanding human population is having a global climate effect. Many world governments are now cooperating to save threatened and endangered species. But it is really up to individual decisions and actions. Do not be lost in the dilution of responsibility while depleting our common resources.

There are many things you can do. You can invest time, effort, and money to directly improve the habitats of endangered species. There are also things you can do from your own home that have far reaching consequences. You can conserve, re-use, and recycle. You can buy “natural” or “green” products. You can also create a micro-habitat or way-station which encourages or aids endangered plants and animals. Perhaps you could make your own property more nature friendly by using less herbicides and pesticides.

Joni Mitchell sings it best in her "Big Yellow Taxi" song:

“Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot” 3

When a species goes extinct, we are all to blame as the human race. If humanity saves and sustains what we have, we can all look our grandkids in the eye and tell them we preserved the inheritance of their planet.

1. Fichter, George S., “Endangered Animals”, Golden Press, New York, New York, c. 1995

2. Lundberg, Murray, “The Steller's Sea Cow”, Explore North website http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-seacow.htm, 6 June 2008.

3. Mitchell, Joni, “Big Yellow Taxi”, Siquomb Publishing Corp, c. 1970.