▶ Your Answer : In this
set of materials, both the reading passage and the lecturer discussed about the
reasons of extinction of the sea cow in Bering Island. Regarding this issue, the
lecturer disputes(contradicts) the writer’s idea one by one.
First
of all, the writer’s first idea cannot be validiated. He points out that the
sea cows may not have been overhunted by groups of native Siberian people. The
lecturer insists that the number of the native Siberian people was very small
so that there was no reason to kill a lot of sea cows at the time for food.
Therefore, it is disputable that the extinction of sea cows may have been
caused by Siberian people.
Secondly,
the lecturer goes on to say that the second idea of the reading passage is also
disputable. the ecosystem disturbances may not cause the extinction of sea
cows. He explains that If the number of kelp which sea cows mainly depended on
had diminished at that time, the number of whale should also have decreased.
However, there is no report about that the number of whale diminished at that
time. So, this counters the reading passage’s assertion that ecosystems
disturbances caused the extinction of sea cows.
Lastly,
The lecturer mentions that even the writer’s last idea does not sound
convincing. the lecturer disputes the
idea that the main cause of extinction of the sea cows could have been European
fur traders who came to Bering island after 1741. He insists that the number of
the sea cows has already decreased when the European fur traders came to the
island. He argued that the number of the sea cows had decreased approximately more
than 100 years before the European fur traders came to the Bering Island. Thus,
the main reason for the extinction of the sea cows may not be the hunting by
European fur traders.
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