TPO 34

The reading suggests three probable reasons for the extinction of Steller's sea cow living in the waters around Bering Island. The lecturer, however, finds the idea dubious and casts doubt on the reasons proposed by the reading passage.

First of all, the author argues that the sea cows could have been overhunted by groups of native Siberian people who were experiencing living in a harsh environment and were devoid of a reliable source of food. Conversely, the lecturer brings up the idea that sea cows were massive creatures-9 meters long and 10tons weight. As a result, just a couple of them were enough for a not-crowded village, and they do not need to hunt a lot of them.

Furthermore, the reading passage holds the view that an ecological change near Bering Island could cause a monumental decrease in main sea cows' source of food, so-called kelp. In contrast, the professor highlights the fact that if any ecological change occurred at that time, some other evidence and indications of other marine animals' population decrease should exist. For example, whales' population should be reduced, but there is not any evidence which shows any decrease in other marine animals. As a result, they did not experience any food shortage.

Finally, the author claims that European fur traders' migration was a reason for extinction because of the sea cow's gorgeous fur. On the contrary, the speaker dismisses this issue due to the fact that migration seems to be responsible for the reduction of sea cows' population, but it was not the major reason. Studies show that the sea cows experienced their highest population one hundred years before European fur traders arrived at the island. Consequently, although their excessive hunting was so detrimental to sea cows' pollution, it was not the main reason.