Editing Steller's sea cow (section)

===Research history===
Steller's sea cow was discovered in 1741 by Georg Wilhelm Steller, and was named after him. Steller researched the wildlife of [[Bering Island]] while he was shipwrecked there for about a year;<ref>{{cite book |last=Steller |first=G. W. |author-link=Georg Wilhelm Steller |editor-last=Frost |editor-first=O. W. |translator1-last=Engel |translator1-first=M. A. |translator2-last=Frost |translator2-first=O. W. |year=1988 |title=Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741–1742 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |location=Stanford, California |isbn=978-0-8047-2181-3 |oclc=877954975}}</ref> the animals on the island included [[relict (biology)|relict]] populations of sea cows, sea otters, [[Steller sea lion]]s, and [[northern fur seal]]s.<ref name=orcutt2003>{{cite book |last=Frost |first=Orcutt William |year=2003 |title=Bering: The Russian Discovery of America |chapter=Shipwreck and Survival |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-300-10059-4 |oclc=851981991 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beringrussiandis0000fros/page/262 262–264] |chapter-url={{Google books|plainurl=yes|id=Eak1Ek9tg_8C|page=262}} |url=https://archive.org/details/beringrussiandis0000fros/page/262 }}</ref> As the crew hunted the animals to survive, Steller described them in detail. Steller's account was included in his posthumous publication ''De bestiis marinis'', or ''The Beasts of the Sea'', which was published in 1751 by the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] in [[Saint Petersburg]]. Zoologist Eberhard von Zimmermann formally [[species description|described]] Steller's sea cow in 1780 as ''Manati gigas''. Biologist [[Anders Jahan Retzius]] in 1794 put the sea cow in the new genus ''Hydrodamalis'', with the specific name of ''stelleri'', in honor of Steller.<ref name=synonyms/> In 1811, naturalist [[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger]] reclassified Steller's sea cow into the genus ''Rytina'', which many writers at the time adopted. The name ''Hydrodamalis gigas'', the correct ''[[combinatio nova]]'' if a separate genus is recognised, was first used in 1895 by [[Theodore Sherman Palmer]].<ref name=forsten/>
[[File:Steller measuring a sea cow.jpg|thumb|left|[[Stejneger]]'s 1925 reconstruction of G. W. Steller measuring a sea cow in 1742|alt=An illustration of a dead Steller's sea cow on its side on a beach, with three men butchering it]] 
For decades after its discovery, no skeletal remains of a Steller's sea cow were known.<ref name=mattioli2006/> This may have been due to rising and falling sea levels over the course of the Quaternary period, which could have left many sea cow bones hidden.<ref name=whitmore/> The first bones of a Steller's sea cow were unearthed in about 1840, over 70 years after it was presumed to have become extinct. The first partial sea cow skull was discovered in 1844 by [[Ilya Voznesensky]] while on the Commander Islands, and the first skeleton was discovered in 1855 on northern Bering Island. These specimens were sent to Saint Petersburg in 1857, and another nearly complete skeleton arrived in Moscow around 1860. Until recently, all the full skeletons were found during the 19th century, being the most productive period in terms of unearthed skeletal remains, from 1878 to 1883. During this time, 12 of the 22 skeletons having known dates of collection were discovered. Some authors did not believe possible the recovery of further significant skeletal material from the Commander Islands after this period, but a skeleton was found in 1983, and two zoologists collected about 90 bones in 1991.<ref name="mattioli2006" /> Only two to four skeletons of the sea cow exhibited in various museums of the world originate from a single individual.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/animal-magic/2016/mar/25/stellers-sea-cow-specimen-helsinki|title=Look, no hands: Steller's sea cow|date=25 March 2016|publisher=The Guardian – Science Animal magic|access-date=3 December 2017}}</ref> It is known that [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]], [[Benedykt Dybowski]], and [[Leonhard Hess Stejneger]] unearthed many skeletal remains from different individuals in the late 1800s, from which composite skeletons were assembled. As of 2006, 27 nearly complete skeletons and 62 complete skulls have been found, but most of them are assemblages of bones from two to 16 different individuals.<ref name="mattioli2006">{{cite journal |last1=Mattioli |first1=Stefano |last2=Domning |first2=Daryl P. |year=2006 |title=An Annotated List of Extant Skeletal Material of Steller's Sea Cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas'') (Sirenia: Dugongidae) from the Commander Islands |journal=Aquatic Mammals |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=273–288 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250020407 |doi=10.1578/AM.32.3.2006.273|bibcode=2006AqMam..32..273M }}</ref>