Steller's sea ape

Illustration of Steller's sea ape by Harry Trumbore.

Other names: Steller's sea monkey

Proposed scientific names: Siren cynocephala (Johann Julius Walbaum, 1792), Trichechus hydropithecus (George Shaw, 1800), Manatus simia (Johann Illiger, prior to 1811)

Steller's sea ape was a merbeing reported from the Bering Sea, in the Gulf of Alaska, by Georg Wilhelm Steller on 10 August 1741. It may also have been observed in 1965. It was described as a red-furred, moustachioed seal-like animal.

Description

The sea ape was described as a five-foot long animal, mostly reddish in colour but greyer on the back and reddish-white on the underside. It had a tapering body, and a doglike head with pointed, erect ears and large eyes. Both principal eyewitnesses commented on its large, drooping "whiskers", which resembled a Chinese-style moustache. It has no visible front flippers or limbs, and has a bilobate tail, with the upper lobe twice as large as the lower.

It was described by Steller as extremely playful, and capable of raising itself out of the water by one-third of its length, and remaining in this position for several minutes. It feeds on bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), which is common in the Gulf of Alaska.

Sightings

1741

Steller recorded observing the sea ape on 10 August 1741, about 260 miles south of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, from the deck of the Saint Peter. On that date, Steller wrote in his diary that:

“

During this time we were near land or surrounded by it we saw large numbers of hair seals, sea otters, fur seals, sea lions, and porpoises. On August 10, we saw a very unusual and unknown sea animal, of which I am going to give a brief account since I observed it for two whole hours. It was about two Russian ells in length, the head was like a dog's, with pointed, erect ears. From the upper and lower lips on both sides whiskers hung down which made it look almost like a Chinaman. The eyes were large; the body was longish round and thick, tapering gradually towards the tail. The skin seemed thickly covered with hair, of a grey color on the back, but reddish white on the belly; in the water, however, the animal appeared equally reddish and cow colored. The tail was divided into two fins, of which the upper, as in the case of sharks, was twice as large as the lower.

”

Depiction of Steller's sea ape by Philippe Coudray in Guide des Animaux Cachés (2009).

Steller observed the animal playing with strands of kelp for two hours before he took a shot at it "in order to get possession of it for a more accurate description", and missed. Furthermore, according to Karl Shuker, it or others of its kind were observed by Steller later on. Steller made no mention of the sea ape incident in his official report, or in his scientific papers.

1965

In June 1965, 224 years after the previous sighting, an animal very much like Steller's sea ape was reported from the central Aleutian Islands by eminent adventurer Brigadier Miles Smeeton, his wife, his daughter, and a friend. As Karl Shuker tells it:

“

...lying in the water close off the port bow was what seemed to be a 5-ft-long animal with 4-5-in-long reddish-yellow hair, and a head more dog-like than seal-like, whose dark intelligent eyes were placed close together, rather than set laterally on the head like a seal's. Indeed, Henry Combe, the Smeetons' friend aboard their ketch, stated that it had a face rather like a Tibetan shih-tzu terrier "...with drooping Chinese whiskers". As the vessel drew nearer, this maritime mandarin "...made a slow undulating dive and disappeared beneath the ship". No-one spied any limbs or fins. Their observation of it had lasted 10-15 seconds, and they have remained convinced that it was not a seal. Although sea otters occur in these waters, this creature did not resemble any sea otter previously spied by them either.

”

Theories

Gesner's illustration of Simia marina, the sea monkey, with which Steller compared his sea ape.

Some authors have suggested the sea ape may have been a juvenile Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus).

Roy P. Mackal suggested the sea ape was an Arctic species of the dog-like leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx).

According to Steller himself, the animal he saw "corresponds in all respects to Gesner's Simia marina Danica", meaning "Danish sea ape". Some online writers have taken this to mean the sea ape incident was a hoax, a mocking reference to the ship's captain, Vitus Bering, who was the only Dane onboard. This would explain why Steller did not refer to the animal outside of his diary.

Steller's sea ape has popularly been identified as a seal or an otter, with which it shares its general appearance and playful behaviour. Steller was familiar with certain types of seals - although he would not see a Northern fur seal until his visit to the Commander Islands, and in poor lighting, with half the animal obscured by the sea, he could have mistaken a seal's hind flippers for a tail.

Chris Orrick and Jay Ellis Ransom speculated the sea ape could have been a vagrant specimen of the Hawaiian monk seal, observed at a time when it was undergoing its seasonal moult. However, this seal has no external ears.

Smeeton did not believe the animal he had seen was a seal, and Roy P. Mackal rejected suggestions that Steller had misidentified a sea otter or a seal, writing that "the simplest explanation is that the 'sea-monkey' actually existed, and that Steller saw it for the first and last time before it became extinct". Mackal wrote that the sea ape could have been a young specimen of an unknown Arctic species of leopard seal, which, however, also lack external ears.

Bernard Heuvelmans also wrote that the sea ape could have been a northern form of leopard seal; he also suggested it may have been a juvenile living Basilosaurus, it's flippers held so close to its body as to be unnoticable.

Karl Shuker also notes that "it seems highly improbable that any wildlife observer as experienced and as meticulously accurate in chronicling his observations afterwards as Steller would fail to recognise it as a type of seal or otter if this is truly all that it was. In fact, Steller was so perplexed by the creature that he made no attempt whatsoever to classify it", and that concludes that it "requires an appreciable stretch of the imagination to convert the sea-monkeys described here into any form of seal". Steller was also familiar with sea otters, which in any case do not grow much longer than two feet.

George Eberhart suggests it may have been a juvenile specimen of Bernard Heuvelmans' hypothetical longneck seal.