The area surrounding Bering Island is now a biosphere reserve, known for its diverse wildlife, and particularly marine mammals. The island's shores form a natural habitat for sea otters, and their population now appears stable, unlike on other Aleutian islands, and although they had been hunted to near extinction on the then-recently discovered Bering Island by 1854.[10] Steller sea lions continue to summer on Bering Island, but the manatee-like Steller's sea cows, which fed on the kelp beds surrounding the island, were hunted to extinction by 1768.[2]