Sea Ape
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sea Ape is a marine animal known from a single sighting by explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller, on August 10, 1741, in waters off the Shumagin Islands, Alaska. This is the only animal animal described by Steller that has not yet been corroborated by physical evidence or other witnesses.
[edit] Description
Steller described the animal as about 5 ft (~1.5 m) long, with a head similar to that of a dog. It had large eyes, pointed erect ears, and long whiskers. Its tail resembled that of a shark, but it had no forefeet nor forefins. Its body was covered with thick grayish hair, but its abdomen was reddish-white. Steller recalled that it resembled an animal illustrated by Gesner which had been called Simia marina Latin for "sea ape".[1]
Steller wrote that the animal rose its front end out of the water to observe the ship, and engaged in an amusing juggling behavior with a piece of seaweed.[2]
Steller attempted to shoot the animal with a gun, but missed. He claimed the creature was seen several more times in various places.
The ship's log did not note the sea ape encounter, and Steller's 1742 governmental report made no mention of it, but he included a description of the creature in his The Beasts of the Sea.
[edit] Explanations
According to biographer Dean Littlepage,[3] the most likely explanation for the sea ape is a young Northern Fur Seal. Their forelimbs are set back far enough on their torso that they might have been obscured below the waterline, and the "shark-like" tail might have been the animal's hind flippers. Steller was already familiar with fur seals, but Littlepage speculates that poor lighting during the lengthiest encounter with a probable juvenile could account for the misidentification.
Cryptozoologists[4] speculate that the sea ape might have been a congenitally malformed fur seal, or perhaps the only sighting of an unidentified "cryptid".
[edit] References
- ^ Frost, Orcutt William. 1993. Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804721815
- ^ Frost, 2003. Bering: The Russian Discovery of America. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300100590
- ^ Littlepage, Dean. 2006. Steller's Island: Adventures of a Pioneer Naturalist in Alaska. The Mountaineers Books. ISBN 1594850577
- ^ Coleman, Loren and Patrick Huyghe; illustrations by Harry Trumbore. The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide, ISBN 0-380-80263-5
