Title: | Carved Honu out of Ancient Steller's Sea Cow Bone |
Medium: | Other |
SOLD |
Carved by Salesi Maile.
Steller's Sea Cow is an extinct sirenian (an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters) discovered by Europeans in 1741. At that time it was found only around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia; its range was more extensive during the Pleistocene epoch, and it is possible that the animal and humans previously interacted. Eighteenth century adults would reach weights of 8–10 metric tons (8.8–11.0 short tons) and lengths up to 9 meters (30 ft).
The sea cow was named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, a naturalist who discovered the species in 1741, on Vitus Bering's Great Northern Expedition when the crew became shipwrecked on Bering Island. Much of what is known about its behavior comes from Steller's observations on the island, documented in his posthumous publication On the Beasts of the Sea. Within twenty-seven years of discovery by Europeans, the slow-moving and easily caught mammal was hunted into extinction for its meat, fat, and hide.
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