Mediterranean Monk Seal
The Caribbean Monk Seal was spotted by Columbus when he arrived in the New World. Then it was abundant but it was also shore loving and exploitable. Soon it was being slaughtered in droves. In 1707 a West Indian traveller wrote "The Bahaman Islands are filled with seals. Sometimes fishers will catch a hundred in a night". The last was sighted in 1952 and now the species is almost certainly extinct.
The population of Hawaiian Monk Seals may never have been so numerous. Now the last remaining 1400 (?) or so are carefully protected in a reserve at French Frigate Shoals off Hawaii and its numbers have stabilised. They are the best hope for survival of the genus.
The Mediterranean Monk Seal is one of the worlds most endangered mammals. There are only about 400 monk seals (Monachus monachus) left in the world, and half of them are found in the Mediterranean region of Turkey and Greece. The other half live in the Atlantic. Females weigh about 300 kg and males weigh about 315 kg. See also
During my latest holiday, to Zakynthos, Greece, I went scubadiving. Every now and then they had visits from a large Monk Seal the last few years. Also the day that I booked the dives they saw it. I expected not to see it beacuse they only rarely saw this Seal and it could be everywhere around the island. However, I was lucky. We entered a cave, went through a tunnel into a larger cave. And there it was, it was lying and sleeping against the ceiling! We had to swim below the adult Seal to exit the cave and it woke up! In the exitement I even managed to take a few pictures in the cave and after exiting. It was fantastic! 
posted by Yuri at 8:17 PM
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