Editing Steller's sea cow (section)

===Uses===
[[File:Steller's sea cow skeleton from Bering Island.jpg|thumb|right|Skeleton excavated on [[Bering Island]] in 1948, [[Zoologisk Museum]]]] 
Steller's sea cow was described as being "tasty" by Steller; the meat was said to have a taste similar to [[corned beef]], though it was tougher, redder, and needed to be cooked longer. The meat was abundant on the animal, and slow to spoil, perhaps due to the high amount of salt in the animal's diet effectively [[Curing (food preservation)#Salt|curing]] it. The fat could be used for cooking and as an odorless lamp oil. The crew of the St. Peter drank the fat in cups and Steller described it as having a taste like [[Almond|almond oil]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Steller's Island: Adventures of a Pioneer Naturalist in Alaska|last=Littlepage|first=Dean}}</ref> The thick, sweet milk of female sea cows could be drunk or made into [[butter]],<ref name=forsten/> and the thick, leathery hide could be used to make clothing, such as shoes and belts, and large skin boats sometimes called [[baidarka]]s or [[umiak]]s.<ref name="andersonanddomning"/>

Towards the end of the 19th century, bones and fossils from the extinct animal were valuable and often sold to museums at high prices. Most were collected during this time, limiting trade after 1900.<ref name=mattioli2006/> Some are still sold commercially, as the highly dense [[Bone#Cortical bone|cortical bone]] is well-suited for making items such as knife handles and decorative carvings.<ref name=mattioli2006/> Because the sea cow is extinct, native artisan products made in Alaska from this "mermaid ivory" are legal to sell in the United States and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the [[Marine Mammal Protection Act]] (MMPA) or the [[Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora]] (CITES), which restrict the trade of marine mammal products. Although the distribution is legal, the sale of unfossilized bones is generally prohibited and trade in products made of the bones is regulated because some of the material is unlikely to be authentic and probably comes from [[List of Arctic cetaceans|arctic cetaceans]].<ref name=mattioli2006/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crerar |first1=L. D. |last2=Freeman |first2=E. W. |last3=Domning |first3=D. P. |last4=Parsons |first4=E. C. M. |year=2017 |title=Illegal Trade of Marine Mammal Bone Exposed: Simple Test Identifies Bones of 'Mermaid Ivory' or Steller's Sea Cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas'') |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |doi=10.3389/fmars.2016.00272 |volume=3 |issue=272 |s2cid=35462508 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312143283|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The [[ethnographer]] Elizabeth Porfirevna Orlova, from the [[Russian Museum of Ethnography]], was working on the Commander Island Aleuts from August to September 1961. Her research includes notes about a game of accuracy, called ''kakan'' ("stones") played with the bones of the Steller's sea cow. Kakan was usually played at home between adults during bad weather, at least during Orlova's fieldwork.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Korsun, S. A. |year=2013 |title= Fieldwork on the Commander Islands Aleuts |journal=Alaska Journal of Anthropology |volume=11 |issue=1–2 |pages=169–181 |url=http://www.alaskaanthropology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/akanth-articles_427_v11_n12_Korsun.pdf}}</ref>