TPO 34

In this set of materials, both the reading and the lecture discusses the reasons behind the extinction of a marine mammal known as Steller's sea cow which used to live in Bering Island off the coast of Siberia. Whereas, the reading supports three theories to address the reasons behind the extinction. The professor disagreed with both of the theories stating that there are problems with each theory.

First, the reading says that overhunting done by Siberian people to sea cows lead to send these mammals to extinct. Nevertheless, the professor posits that by stating that those sea cows were a massive creature and that they were about nine meters long and weight 10s of tons, and if they were hunted by local people they were to feed a village for months. He also added that the number of Siberian at that time was not big and there were no way they could overhunt the sea cows leading them to extinct.

Second, in the reading the author claims that sea cows may have become extinct because their main source of food, Kelp, was affected by ecosystem disturbances. However, the professor asserts that if there were a real disturbance in the ecosystem it should also affect other marine animal such as the whales, and since there were no recording from fishing ships a bout that it might be fair to say that the disturbance did not happen at all.

Finally, the article states that European fur traders could be the main reason for the sea cows to become extinct. On the other hand, the professor affirms that the sea cows population was already declining when the European came across to the Island. So whatever was causing the change in their numbers, it should be responsible for the extinct of sea cows not the European.