TPO 34 TOEFL Integrated Essay

The reading and the lecturer are both about the Selter's sea cow, which became extinct in 1768. The author of the reading presents three theories about the extinction of the sea cows in Bering Island. The lecturer disputes the claims made in the article. His position is that all of the theories mentioned in the reading passage are not convincing and are false, whatever has caused the extermination would be something else.

According to the reading, indigenous Siberian residents may have been overhunted the sea cows and caused them to vanish. The article mentions that sea cows were an excellent source of diet for these people in their specific habitat. This specific point is challenged by the lecturer. He claims that sea cows were massive animals and they were about 9m long and ten tons in weight that could be enough for the Siberian individuals. Additionally, he points out that the people living in those regions were not large enough to overhunt sea cows to the point of their extinction.

Secondly, the author suggests that the ecosystem disturbances may have altered the food source of the sea cow population and as a consequence, they were removed from the sea. In the article, it is said that a type of plant by the name of the kelp, which consisted of the sea cows' main food was altered due to some negative aspects of the ecological changes. The lecturer, however, asserts that if something severe happened to the change of the kelp it would not affect them, but also may have caused different animals that rely on kelps as well. He goes on to say that whales populations have not changed at the same time the sea cow population which were declined, and whales depended on the kelps as well.

Finally, the author posits that the fur traders from Europe may have been caused extinction by killing a lot of the sea cows for their fur. In contrast, the lecturer's stance is that by the time European came to Bering Island the population of the sea cows was small. Therefore, whatever was the main cause of the decline is not related to the Europeans who were arrived late on the Island.