sea cow

sea cow
1. any sirenian, as the manatee or dugong.
2. Obs. the hippopotamus.
[1605-15]

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or Steller's sea cow

Extinct aquatic mammal (Hydrodamalis gigas) that lived around islands in the Bering Sea.

It was discovered in 1741 and described by a member of Vitus Bering's expedition. At least 24 ft (7.5 m) long, it had no teeth, a small head, and a broad, horizontal, forked tail fluke; its dark brown skin was sometimes streaked or spotted with white. It browsed on seaweed. Russian sealers hunted it for food and fur; by 1768 the entire population, estimated at about 5,000, had been exterminated. The term also refers to dugongs and manatees.

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mammal
also called  Steller's sea cow 
 very large aquatic mammal, now extinct, that once inhabited nearshore areas of the Komandor Islands in the Bering Sea. Steller's sea cows were wiped out by hunters in the 18th century less than 30 years after they were first discovered by Arctic explorers. Today, the term sea cow is sometimes used to refer to other sirenians (sirenian), namely, the manatee and the dugong.

      Steller's sea cow was unknown to science until 1741, when it was described by German naturalist Georg W. Steller, who accompanied Vitus Bering (Bering, Vitus) on his voyage of discovery in the North Pacific. No preserved specimens exist today, but the sea cow was certainly the largest sirenian. Reaching a length of 9–10 metres (over 30 feet) and a weight of perhaps 10 metric tons (22,000 pounds), it was much larger than present-day manatees and dugongs (dugong). Like the dugong, the sea cow had a relatively small head and a broad, horizontal forked tail fluke. Small stumpy flippers near the front of the body were used for moving over rocky areas and for holding fast to rocks in rough seas. The barklike skin was dark brown, sometimes streaked or spotted with white. Sea cows had no teeth; instead, they relied on horny plates in the mouth to compact their soft food, which consisted of kelp and seaweed near the ocean's surface along the shore. They floated at the surface but had little ability to submerge and thus were easy targets for harpooning by hunters. The sea cow was used to supply Russian seal hunters with prized meat on long sea journeys, and killing was often wasteful. The total population in 1741 has been estimated at about 2,000, but by 1768 it had been exterminated. The extinction of Steller's sea cow is a dramatic example of the vulnerability of small isolated animal populations.

      Steller's sea cow belonged to the same family as the dugong (family Dugongidae). The dugong and manatee families both belong to the order Sirenia, but Steller's sea cow was one of the few sirenians ever to inhabit cool waters. The extremely large size of Steller's sea cow functioned as an adaptation for survival in cool waters by providing the animal with a smaller ratio of surface area to volume than tropical sirenians, and the thick hide probably provided better insulation.

Thomas O'Shea
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sea cow — (Zo[ o]l.) (a) The mantee. (b) The dugong. (c) The walrus. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sea cow — n. any of an order (Sirenia) of large, vegetarian sea mammals with a cigar shaped body, a blunt snout, large, mobile lips, flipperlike forelimbs, and a tail fluke, consisting of the dugong and manatee …   English World dictionary

  • sea cow — sea′ cow n. mam the manatee or dugong • Etymology: 1605–15 …   From formal English to slang

  • sea cow — ► NOUN ▪ a sirenian, especially a manatee …   English terms dictionary

  • sea cow — noun any of two families of large herbivorous aquatic mammals with paddle shaped tails and flipper like forelimbs and no hind limbs • Syn: ↑sirenian mammal, ↑sirenian • Hypernyms: ↑aquatic mammal • Hyponyms: ↑manatee, ↑Trichechus manatus, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • sea cow — manatee man a*tee , n. [Sp. manat[ i], from the native name in Haiti. Cf. {Lamantin}.] (Zo[ o]l.) Any species of {Trichechus}, a genus of sirenians; called also {sea cow}. [Written also {manaty}, {manati}.] [1913 Webster] Note: One species… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sea cow — diugonis statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas taksono rangas rūšis atitikmenys: lot. Dugong dugon angl. dugong; sea cow vok. Dugong rus. дюгонь; обыкновенный дюгонь pranc. dugon; dugong ryšiai: platesnis terminas – diugoniai …   Žinduolių pavadinimų žodynas

  • sea cow — type of large sea mammal …   English contemporary dictionary

  • sea-cow — n. 1. Walrus, morse, sea horse (Trichechus rosmarus). 2. Manatee, lamantine. 3. Dugong, halicore …   New dictionary of synonyms

  • sea cow — noun Date: 1613 dugong …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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