TPO 34

The article mainly discusses three theories about the main reasons for the extinction of sea cows. However, the professor rejects the claims in the passage by providing contradicting statements and examples. He further adds none of the reasons presented in the passage are convincing.
According to the reading passage, overhunting of the see cows by Siberian people could have been the primary reason for their extinction. Nonetheless, the professor casts doubts on this idea and adds that the see cows were very massive animals with tones of weight, if the Siberian people fed on see cows they did not need to hunt a lot of them. The few of them were enough to support a limited number of their population. Thus, they could not be extinct by native people.
Moreover, regarding the reading passage, ecosystem disturbances that caused the decline of the kelp population as the main source of food for the sea cows was another compelling reason for the extinction. In contrast, the professor opposes this claim reasoning that if severe ecological changes happened in the island, it not only negatively affect the population of kelp but also other marine animals such as whales. However, there is no evidence for this event.
Finally, in the reading passage, it was said that European fur trader might be the main cause of extinction of the see cows by killing a large number of the animals. On the other hand, the professor ends up saying that the population of the sea cows was already decreased substantially before the fur trader arrived. In addition, a serious decline was definitely caused by factors other than European fur traders.