Europeans

Steller’s sea cow was first seen by Europeans in 18th century around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia. Fossil records show that its range was more extensive during the Pleistocene epoch (from 2.6 million to 11.7 thousand years ago) and its population numbers had been much …

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The Caribbean Monk Seal was also known as the West Indian Monk Seal or Sea Wolf. The first Europeans to see them in August 1494 were Christopher Columbus and his crew when their ship laid anchor off the island of Alta Velo. Their population size, prior to exploitation by Europeans and overfishing, as at the early 17th Century has been estimated at something over a quarter of a million distributed over 13 breeding colonies each 300km apart.

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