Chinese Mythology Creation Story Explained in Animation

This video on Chinese mythology explains the Chinese creation myth starting from the first god Pangu. In this video, many creation myths have been fused, when often Pangu would be its own answer to the “Creation” question, and Nüwa would be another. With the creation of the humans, the brother and sister myth often does not co-exist with Nüwa, and in some versions, they simply do one test and everything works out. Another version, not included here, has a giant snake give birth to all animals and then finally humans. This said, creation myths are not a dominating aspect of Chinese Mythology and there are not as many records of them as there are of other areas (like the creation of the immortals and various arts or ideas) – it seems like the origin of the human race and Earth was not as important of a question to the ancient Chinese.

Terror birds: predators that can grow up to an incredible 10 feet tall and weigh over 1,000 pounds

These are the horror birds: tough, strong creatures who sliced through small mammals with the ease of the person who once used a pickax to pierce the skull of my insane uncle in a bar brawl (he survived, and no, I'm not even exaggerating).

Like human babies riding in cars, millions of years ago certain species of mammals found themselves simply unable to stay awake while in the jaws of the terror birds. So sleepy! IMAGE: STEPHANIE ABRAMOWICZ, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

You'd be excused if you tried to convince yourself that a pigeon's forebears were dinosaurs by gazing at one. After all, this monster evolved from some of the best killing machines evolution has ever produced, and it now sips gutter water and attacks the elderly in exchange for breadcrumbs. But before birds were begging for food in parks millions of years ago, they had already reached the top of the food chain. In actuality, they filled the voids left by their dangerous theropod ancestors like Velociraptor.

These are the horror birds: tough, strong creatures who sliced through small mammals with the ease of the person who once used a pickax to pierce the skull of my insane uncle in a bar brawl (he survived, and no, I'm not even exaggerating). The tallest of the 18 species, which can reach heights of 10 feet, chose not to use flight in favor of pursuing the beings that had just staged a party to bid farewell to the giant predatory dinosaurs. The unfortunate things had a hangover when they woke up, and the hangover was the terrifying bird.

The 2.5-foot-long skull of KELENKEN, THE LARGEST KNOWN SPECIES OF TERROR BIRD. THAT MASSIVE HOOK LED *KELENKEN'*S PREY TO DISPARAGINGLY REFER TO THE PREDATOR AS "CAPTAIN HOOK." THE TERROR BIRD, THEY KNEW, WAS REAL SORE ABOUT BEING REJECTED FROM THE ARMED FORCES, WHAT WITH ITS LACK OF ARMS. IMAGE: LUIS CHIAPPE, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

The terror birds emerged as apex predators in isolation 60 million years ago in South America, which had not yet united with its northern counterpart. According to paleontologist Luis Chiappe, despite their success, their fossils are fragmentary and extremely rare. In 2007, he detailed the giant, oddly boxy noggin of the greatest terror bird ever: Kelenken, named after the dreadful bird spirit of Patagonia's indigenous Tehuelche people.

He declared, "It's the largest known skull for terror birds." In actuality, it's the biggest bird skull ever discovered. It is a massive, monstrous creature that is around 2.5 feet long and has a huge hook on the end of its beak that resembles an eagle.

Paleontologists believe that terror birds were not crumb-loving pigeons based on fossils like these, and not just because there was no bread in those days. Even while a skull cannot reveal the precise method of death, to Chiappe, this is unmistakably a carnivore's beak.

To the best of paleontologists' knowledge, terror birds weren't see-through. But then again, no one has definitively DISPROVED THAT THEY WERE SEE-THROUGH. IMAGE: STEPHANIE ABRAMOWICZ, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

We all know that a cockatoo, a small parrot, can rip your finger off, the man remarked. Imagine the harm a bird like this could have caused with just one stroke from its enormous beak and skull. So that's definitely one pretty simple way to picture how these animals would have murdered their prey.

The fearsome birds resided in woods, where they were probably waiting in ambush on the numerous tiny mammals that arose in South America after the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, biomechanical tests have demonstrated that their skulls and beaks likely weren't robust enough to take on enormous animals. These were highly quick, swift predators, reaching speeds of maybe 30 mph, and they would have been more than capable of pursuing scampering creatures with their massively expanded legs. (This shouldn't surprise anyone who has seen how ostriches gallop, like huge 40 mph feather dusters having panic episodes, in a really frenzied and entertaining manner.)

Terror bird legs ended with talons, thus it's possible that the creatures shot their prey in the head with their beaks before standing on it and quickly shivving it to death. Or perhaps they shook and chomped on their prey until its spine broke.

For further conjecture, we may also investigate the living relatives of the terror birds, the seriemas. Even though these South American birds are only a few feet tall, they are skilled predators. They catch lizards, rodents, and other prey with their talons and smash them against rocks to break their bones.

I included this fairly ugly photograph because it’s so crummy that it almost makes the terror bird look real, like bigfoot in that grainy video. Also, I like how disgusted this guy is by his creation. Such is the tortured existence of the artist, I suppose. IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA

Even the idea has been floated that the horror birds weren't actually terrifying. Instead, they were fervent vegetarians, or hunted birds. German researchers published the findings of a geochemical investigation of terror bird bones last year, concluding that the bones' calcium isotope compositions were more consistent with herbivores than carnivores.

But Chiappe rejects the idea that a creature with such a formidable build was anything other than a predator. He contends that the terror birds had extremely enormous heads compared to their bodies, much like modern eagles and very different from contemporary omnivorous terrestrial birds like emus, ostriches, and cassowaries.

"I personally think that you can come up with all these very rather innovative views, but I think that it makes a lot of sense that these animals were predators," the man stated. The same thing happened when someone proposed that T. rex was a scavenger. They undoubtedly consumed dead food, but it certainly caused death.

He continued, "Maybe [the terror birds'] bite force was not strong enough, or perhaps they were restricted to preying on particular animals, but that doesn't, in my opinion, make them a non-predatory bird."

A terror bird freaks right out about how poorly its shadow was drawn. IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA

Whatever their food and feeding habits, the terror bird empire began a steady fall starting around 4.5 million years ago, when the Central American isthmus developed, connecting two previously independent continents. All those species who had spent millions of years in seclusion were now mixing, schmoozing, and shaking hands - with their teeth.

While the apex predators of North America—bears and big cats—colonized South America, terror birds migrated up into what is now the southern United States. As a result, Chiappe explained, "they had to contend with new competition for the same resources, and that, coupled with possible climatic changes they may not have been able to handle and that may have affected their hunting strategies, probably drove them to extinction."

Because of this, no matter how dangerous a bird may have been, a cat has always managed to keep it under control. It was somewhat reminiscent of Sylvester and Tweety's never-ending conflict, only with more violence and fewer speech problems.

Source: https://www.wired.com/2014/03/absurd-creat...

Amazing Mongolian Proverbs and Sayings That Will Turn Your Mind

The great Mongolian wisdom carries a parasitic deep meaning that helps to acquire important life knowledge that contributes to a happy life. Great Mongolian proverbs and sayings are filled with vitality, thanks to them you can temper your spirit, fill your heart with freedom and wisdom.

Do Jews and Arabs Really Have Different Ancestors?

In this video you can check the current distribution of Y-DNA haplogroup J1 by country and the famous individuals belonging to J1. Also, through the phylogenetic tree of Haplogroup J1, the time of occurrence and prominent formation places of descendants by era are introduced. Finally, the ancient DNA of J1 was mapped by period.

Potential "Holy Grail" of Pterosaur Research: Footprint Discoveries

Since the discovery of pterosaur remains more than 200 years ago, researchers have been unable to establish how early members of this genus of flying reptiles, from the Triassic or Jurassic periods, walked on land. However, the discovery of these pterosaurs' initial footprints in southern France disproves theories that they were clumsy or sprawling walkers who struggled on land or that they walked on their hind legs like birds.

Late Jurassic pterosaur similar to Rhamphorhynchus muensteri (pictured) left footprints on a beach that are now revealing how early pterosaurs moved on the ground. Credit: Mark Witton

A group of pterosaurs known as pterodactyloids, which were widespread in the Late Jurassic and throughout the Cretaceous, left fossilized pterosaur footprints at more than 30 sites around the world in recent years. Some of these latter pterosaurs, like Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus, became as large as small airplanes and had short tails and toothless mouths.

Now, French paleontologists reveal in Geobios that they have discovered the tracks of pterosaurs that are not pterodactyloid. The early, less specialized pterosaurs in this vast group, such the fish-eating Rhamphorhynchus, most of which still retained teeth and long tails, are also included.

According to paleontologist Michael Habib of the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the new discovery, "[Until now] these earlier pterosaurs have, strangely, never left any trackways. In comparison, pterodactyloid tracks number in the thousands. Due to this, experts have previously suggested that early pterosaurs had poor ground mobility."

The new discovery was located at a location named Pterosaur Beach in Crayssac, France. Some scientists have even concluded that these creatures "were unable to walk on ground and were only climbers," according to paleontologist and lead study author Jean-Michel Mazin. He continues, "so when we discovered the first unambiguous non-pterodactyloid footprints, we were very happy. Researchers had long searched for fossils to confirm the walking ability of these animals."

The alternating front and back footprints from excavations from 2000 to 2014 comprise four trackways that are each just over one meter long. The pterosaurs, who left the individual footprints, were roughly the size of small birds, weighed barely 100 grams, and walked on all fours. The footprints are each about three centimeters long. By examining the size, depth, and spacing of the footprints, paleontologists can infer the size of the creatures that left them.

Although Crayssac is well inland today, it was a mudflat on the shore of a shallow sea 150 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic. In the mud and sand, animals such as dinosaurs, pterosaurs, turtles, crocodiles, and crabs made imprints that were later preserved as fossils.

The newly discovered tracks were initially mistaken for those of pterosaurs by Mazin and his co-author Joane Pouech, who works with Mazin at a museum in Pterosaur Beach. But the scientists only understood the full implications of their discovery when they noticed that the creatures that had abandoned them had five toes on their back foot. According to Mazin, pterodactyloids had just four toes on their hind feet, but non-pterodactyloids had five.

Additionally, the trackways showed that, unlike their later relatives, these early pterosaurs' front feet had toes that directed forward rather than out to the side. These novel trackways, according to Mazin, "clearly showed that non-pterodactyloids were quadrupedal and good walkers even though they are morphologically very different from pterodactyloid tracks."

Habib notes that Mazin and Pouech "discovered and described a beautiful fossil trackway that was clearly left by one of the earlier types of pterosaurs," and that there is no indication from the footprints that these creatures were incapable of moving quickly on the ground. "Their discovery refutes the notion that early pterosaurs were incapable of efficient running or walking."

The fossil is the "final nail in the coffin of the idea that basal pterosaurs were awkward and clumsily walking around—and definitely of the idea that early pterosaurs might have been bipedal," according to Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone, a pterosaur expert at the University of Bristol in England who was not involved in the research.Not only did they move rapidly and elegantly, but they also walked on all fours, she continues.

Small pterosaurs walking adeptly on all fours left a series of trackways, such as this one, on a French beach about 150 million years ago. Credit: Jean-Michel Mazin PaleoAquitani

It has been a long and painful wait to find proof of how their older, long-tailed predecessors walked on the ground, according to Mark Witton, a pterosaur expert at the University of Portsmouth in England. Although the earliest known tracks from pterodactyloid pterosaurs were discovered in the 1950s. He did not participate in the actual study, but he examined the publication outlining the new research. "This is one of those 'holy grail' discoveries that we've long needed to answer a list of questions about early pterosaur biology," he claims. This represents a significant advance for pterosaur science.

According to Witton, the discovery will drastically alter perceptions of early pterosaurs, forcing paleoartists to start over and update their previous depictions of these creatures. "Ideas of them being bipeds or sluggish sprawlers are out the window," he continues.

There is a possibility that more early pterosaur trackways will be discovered now that fossil hunters are more aware of what to search for. These findings could provide further information about posture, speed, and gait. But because these animals didn't come down to the ground very often, it's possible that these specimens are so uncommon, making them treasured finds. "They seem really less common in the track fossil record, maybe because they were walkers but also climbers or cliff dwellers" like certain seabirds do today, claims Mazin.

Habib argues that non-pterodactyloids were capable of walking, even if they only did so occasionally. He speculates that they might have preferred to climb in trees to avoid predators. The majority of Triassic and Jurassic pterosaurs were small in size and would have had a wide variety of ground-based predators.

Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article...

Top 10 Gods and Goddesses of Aztec Mythology

The Aztecs may be a civilization long since gone, but the stories they left behind, their mythology, is forever ingrained in time. It may not be as widely retold as Greek or Roman mythology, but this Mesoamerican religion, which focused heavily on human sacrifice, was fascinating on its own, breeding these top ten deities of Aztec mythology. Enjoy!

Hindu Mythology Creation Story Explained in 15 Minutes

Victorian Great Britain imported luxurious and exotic items from China, but China only accepted payments in silver, creating a huge imbalance in trade. To avoid losing money on imported goods, Britain had to sell something back to China, and in desperation, the decision was made for Britain to sell opium.

When diplomatic efforts to introduce opium to the Chinese market failed, the British Parliament approved an alternative: war. There were two wars, one from 1839 to 1842 and another from 1856 to 1860. They are collectively known as the Opium Wars. These conflicts are largely forgotten in the Western world, perhaps out of a sense of collective shame. But in China, the Opium Wars are still symbols of national humiliation at the hands of the Western powers.

Stonehenge is 6,000 years older than the oldest dwelling in Britain, which is 11,500 years old

It's small, clumsy, and not likely to win any accolades for architecture. But archaeologists claim that this wooden cottage is among the most significant structures ever created in Britain.

Ancient find: Manchester University student Ruth Whyte on the archaeological dig in Flixton near Scarborough which has unearthed an 11,000-year-old tree and remains.

The recently unearthed circular building is the nation's oldest known residence, as depicted by our artist. It was constructed more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge and gave nomadic hunters roving Britain during the end of the last ice age protection from the freezing winds and storms.

The building's remnants, which were found close to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, were at least 8,500 years old. It was located adjacent to the ruins of a wooden quayside and next to an old lake.

It was between 500 and 1,000 years older than the previous record-holder, a building discovered in Howick, Northumberland, according to Dr. Chantal Conneller of the University of Manchester.

Pictures from the dig where archaeologists believe that one of the first houses in Britain may have been buried

This alters how we perceive the life of the first people to return to Britain after the previous ice age, she said. "We used to believe that they were elusive and left little traces.

We now know that they created substantial structures and had strong attachments to certain locations in the terrain.

The building's timber from construction has all been destroyed. Instead, 18 timber poles set in a circle were clearly visible, according to researchers. An organic substance had been used to fill the structure's hollow center.

The researchers think there may have been a fireplace and that the floor once had a carpet of reeds, moss, or grasses. According to Dr. Conneller, the hut was used for at least 200 to 500 years and may have been left unoccupied for extended periods of time.

We don't know much about it, she added, and we're not sure what it was used for. Although it could only hold three or four people, the structure may have been a home. Given that there is evidence of ritual activity at the site, it might have been a type of ceremonial building.

Near the cabin, previous archaeological digs uncovered headdresses made from deer skulls as well as flint tools, a boat paddle, antler tools, fish hooks, and beads.

Alongside the ancient lake at Star Carr, which has long since vanished, the archaeologists also discovered a sizable wooden platform. It was constructed using split and hewn timbers.

The platform is the earliest indication of carpentry in Europe and may have been a dock. Britain at the time had connections to the rest of Europe. Nomads who moved from a region that is now under the North Sea to hunt deer, wild boar, elk, and wild cattle were the previous occupants of the hut.

"This is a sensational discovery and tells us so much about the people who lived at this time," said Dr. Nicky Milner of the University of York.

Archaeologists have been excavating at the Mesolithic site Star Carr since 2003

This dig has given us a clearer understanding of how these people lived. For instance, it appears that the house may have undergone numerous stages of reconstruction.

It's also possible that there were several homes and a large population living here. Additionally, the antler artifacts—especially the antler headdresses—are noteworthy because they allude to ritual activities.

Although Britain had been visited by hunter-gatherers for hundreds of thousands of years, it was only at the end of the last ice age, when the glaciers finally retreated from Scotland, that the country became permanently occupied.

Thousands of miles away, in the ‘Fertile Crescent’ of Mesopotamia, the earliest farmers were learning how to sow seeds and domesticate animals in a discovery that would transform the world – and herald the age of villages, writing and civilisation.

But in northern Europe, the hunter-gatherer way of life that had served prehistoric man for millennia remained unchallenged.

A depiction of a stone-age house in Ireland. The original building at Star Carr would have looked very similar to this, with thatched roof and circular shape

Hunter-gatherers had been coming to Britain for hundreds of thousands of years, but the country didn't become inhabited permanently until the end of the last ice age, when Scotland's glaciers finally retreated.

The world's first farmers were discovering how to domesticate animals and plant seeds thousands of miles away in Mesopotamia's "Fertile Crescent," a finding that would usher in the age of villages, writing, and civilization.

However, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had supported prehistoric man for thousands of years remained undisturbed in northern Europe.

Source: https://archaeology-world.com/6000-years-o...

Göbekli Tepe: The Dawn of Civilization

Thousands of years before anyone thought to construct pointy Egyptian tombs or arrange mysterious stone circles, there was Göbekli Tepe: a 20th century archaeological discovery in Turkey that predates civilization itself. Watch the video below for more!

10 Biggest Lies About Jesus

In the following video we will be discussing the 10 biggest lies about Jesus. Watch the video for more!

Three Ancient Mysteries From Lost Civilisations | Journey To The Ends Of The Earth

David Adams’ journey takes us into a Sudan we rarely see. On the flat waters of the Nile, he hears the creaking of the rigging catching the wind as river-travelers have for thousands of years. While the battlements of ancient fortresses standing on shore are occasional reminders of the region’s violent past, he is able to contemplate that era from the relative peace of the wide river.

Our Oldest Gods: The origins of Venus

Venus is one of the oldest and most beloved deities of all time. From her earliest beginnings rising from the communities of Neolithic Farmers, to her evolution into the Greek goddess Aphrodite, and her eventual worship as the Roman goddess Venus, this video will take you on a journey through time and across cultures.

Unearthed at a 1,200-year-old burial site are these mysterious Viking swords

A Viking Age burial with animal bones and two swords that appear to have functioned as grave markers was found by archaeologists in Sweden.

The moment a Viking sword was excavated from a burial mound near Köping, Sweden. © Arkeologerna Statens historiska museer

The Vikings are renowned for their mastery of the sword and their prowess in combat. Though we rarely have the opportunity to view these weapons up close, it's simple to picture them using them in savage combat. Archaeologists in central Sweden made a remarkable find in 2022 when they unearthed two Viking swords that had been buried for more than 1,200 years.

These ancient weapons provide a fascinating look into the lives of the people who lived in this area hundreds of years ago and are a tribute to the artistry and ability of the Vikings. The find was located in a sizable burial field west of Köpin Västmanland, Sweden, containing about 100 tombs that date to the Late Iron Age, between 600 and 1,000 AD.

The reason this site was so well-preserved was described by archaeologist Anton Seiler from Sweden's State Historical Museums. He asserts that because the Viking Age graves in the area are frequently found on ridges, agricultural development in succeeding centuries has not affected them.

Numerous Viking Age graves in the area contain weapons and horse equipment, according to earlier discoveries. This presumably reveals a localized network of armed individuals, to protect things like trade routes and farm output.

The Viking sword held by one of the archeologists. © Arkeologerna Statens historiska museer

Despite hundreds of graves were unearthed between the 19th and 21st centuries, only about 20 Viking Age graves with swords from Västmanland are known. This demonstrates unequivocally how uncommon these specific burials containing swords from Viby/Norrtuna are.

In the center of the burial rooms, the swords were erect. It was challenging to determine their exact length because they both broke when put into the ground. They were made of sturdy iron and were around 3 feet long. Additionally, the weapons had undergone more than a thousand years of deterioration.

For the purpose of constructing and enlarging a roadway between two cities, the excavation had been going on for more than two years. All grave objects discovered were either burned or fragmented because cremation was the standard method of disposition during the time in question. The burials also had many kilograms of burned human and animal bones in addition to swords. Bones from at least horses, dogs, and birds (specimens), though it's difficult to say without appropriate osteological analysis, were discovered in the tombs.

A whalebone game piece, clay jars, iron rivets and nails, silver posament knots—which would have been worn with clothing—and bear claws were among the other artifacts found at the site. The artefacts and other discoveries, in the researchers' opinion, can stand in for several things. They might consist of the deceased's personal things, burial ceremonial objects, gifts from family members, or goods required for the afterlife, for instance.

Scientists analyzed the remains of the grave's occupants to ascertain their age, gender, and whether more than one person had been interred in the same grave. Although the presence of the swords suggests that men were buried in these sites, or that the owners were male warriors, we cannot be certain of this.

Swords may have been buried with children to indicate they belonged to a notable family, and female fighters during the Viking Age have received a lot of attention in recent years.

Photo of one of the ancient swords at the excavation site. They were found in a large burial field dating back to the Late Iron Age. © Arkeologerna Statens historiska museer

The researchers added that the swords might also represent a financial commitment from the farm as a whole or a symbolic effort by a group of relatives to establish power structures nearby.

After being unearthed, the weapons were submitted for conservation. Researchers will be able to identify the exact length and shape of the swords after conservation when the fragments are put back together. Wear and any potential battle damage will also be obvious after conservation.

These swords' discovery can give us important new information about the more than a thousand-year-old lives of our ancestors. Along with the cultural and social customs of the people who used these swords, we may learn about the technological developments of the era.

It's a great chance for historians and archaeologists to research the past and learn more about it, and we're excited to see what new discoveries are uncovered in the future.

Source: https://mysteriesrunsolved.com/2023/04/mys...

The headless skeleton of a 20 ft long sea monster that went extinct in the 18th century reappears on a remote Russian island

On a secluded Russian island, a long-extinct sea monster has made a comeback.

An ancient sea monster hunted to extinction has reappeared on a remote Russian island. The remains of a Steller's sea cow (pictured) were found by nature reserve officials on the far flung Commander Islands in the Bering Sea

Officials from the nature reserve discovered the headless bones of a Steller's sea cow on the remote Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.

The 20-foot (six-meter) long animal went extinct in the 18th century as harpoon hunters used them as sitting targets because they had no fear of people.

The 20-foot (six-metre) long beast died out in the 18th century because they were sitting targets for harpoon hunters, having no fear of humans. Ribs of the creature were found jutting out of the seashore like a 'fence'

The creature's ribs were discovered sticking up like a "fence" from the coastline.

A rare discovery of the sea cow, which was originally restricted to the waters surrounding these islands between Russia and Alaska, was made after an eight-hour dig.

An eight hour dig showed this was a rare find of the existence sea cow, once endemic to the waters of these islands between Russia and Alaska. They found 45 vertebrae (pictured), 27 ribs, a left scapula and other bones on the headless creature

On the decapitated creature, they discovered 45 vertebrae, 27 ribs, a left scapula, and miscellaneous bones.

Before they disappeared, Arctic explorers noted sightings of these sea cows.

The length and weight of sea cows might reach ten meters (30 feet) and ten tonnes, respectively.

Sightings of these sea cows were recorded by Arctic explorers before it died out. Sea cows would have been around ten metres (30 feet) long and weighed up to ten tonnes

They could swim well and passed their days munching on sea grass with their horny pads.

The skeleton's protruding ribs were discovered by nature reserve inspector Maria Shitova and will be on display on the islands.

According to historical records, by the eighteenth century the species had declined to remnant populations around only Bering and Copper Islands. Pictured are the Commander Islands where the specimen was found

The enormous creatures belonged to a family of mammals called Sirenia, which was given that name in honor of the mermaids from Greek mythology.

Researchers from George Mason University write in Biology Letters that "according to the fossil record, animals in the genus Hydrodamalis inhabited coastal waterways from Japan through the Aleutian Island chain to Baja California during the Late Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene."

Nature reserve inspector Maria Shitova was part of the team (pictured) who spotted the protruding ribs of the skeleton which will be displayed on the islands. The huge animals belonged to a group of mammals known as Sirenia, named after the mermaids of Greek mythology

According to historical accounts, the species had reduced to remnant populations by the eighteenth century, only remaining in the vicinity of Russia's Bering and Copper Islands.

The species was given the name Steller after German explorer George Steller, who discovered it on an expedition in 1741.

The species was named after German explorer George Steller who first documented its existence during a voyage in 1741. Pictured are some of the bones found by the team

This group survived by hunting sea cows, which traveled in herds and were simple targets. According to some reports, one cow could provide 33 men with food for a month.

According to BBC, rumors regarding the meat of the 4-inch blubber circulated after Stellar claimed that it tasted like almond oil.

Before the Ice Age Stellar's sea cows were found widely along the edge of the Pacific. By the 18th century when they were first discovered by modern man, they were living in waters between two tiny Arctic Islands in the Commander Chain

27 years after modern man discovered it, the last one was slain in 1768.

These hunting expeditions may have contributed to its demise, according to scientists.

George Steller's team survived life on the Commander Islands (pictured) by hunting the sea cows which moved in herds and were easy prey, with reports suggesting one cow could feed 33 men for a month

According to reports, hunters slaughtered far more sea cows than they could consume because they thought there would always be a supply.

Stellar said the 4-inch blubber of the sea cow (artist's impression) tasted like almond oil, writes BBC , and word spread about its meat. The last one was killed in 1768, 27 years after it was discovered by modern man

Scientists believe these hunting expeditions to the Commander Islands (pictured) could have played a role in its downfall. Reports suggest hunters killed far more sea cow than they could eat as they assumed there was an infinite supply

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ar...