Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Monachus monachus, also known as the Mediter­ranean Monk Seal, is found around the Mediter­ranean Sea re­gion and the North­west African Coast. There are pop­u­la­tions that are lo­cated in Mau­ri­ta­nia/West­ern Sa­hara, Greece, and Turkey. Small num­bers have also been seen in Mo­rocco, Al­ge­ria, Libya, the Por­tuguese De­ser­tas Is­lands, Croa­tia, and Cyprus.

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native
• ethiopian
  • native
• atlantic ocean
  • native

Habi­tat

Mediter­ranean monk seals are usu­ally found along coastal wa­ters, es­pe­cially on the coast­lines of is­lands. They are some­times found in caves with sub­ma­rine en­trances when the fe­male is giv­ing birth and just to get away from other dis­tur­bances, such as boats.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• saltwater or marine

• Aquatic Biomes
• coastal

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Adult Mediter­ranean monk seals can be any color from dark brown or black to light grey. They are usu­ally light gray along the belly. Pups have a black woolly coat and a white or yel­low patch on the belly. They molt at about 4-6 weeks and their black woolly coat is re­placed by a sil­very gray coat that can darken over time.

Adult males are on av­er­age about 2.4m in length and fe­males are slightly shorter. Males weigh about 315 kg and fe­males weigh about 300 kg.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Average mass

  300-315 kg

  lb

• Average mass

  275000 g

  9691.63 oz

  AnAge

• Average length

  2.4 m

  7.87 ft

Re­pro­duc­tion

Mediter­ranean monk seals mate dur­ing the months of Sep­tem­ber-No­vem­ber. Mat­ing usu­ally takes place in the water. They re­pro­duce very slowly start­ing at the age of 4. The time be­tween births is 13 months, and the ges­ta­tion pe­riod is 11 months. Pups are born about 80-100 cm long and weigh 17-24 kg.

Sex­ual ma­tu­rity is reached at about 4-6 years of age.

When fe­males give birth, they go on the beach or in caves. A fe­male will usu­ally re­main on the beach or in the cave nurs­ing and pro­tect­ing the pup for up to six weeks. Dur­ing this time, the fe­male must live off of stored fat be­cause she never leaves the pup, not even to feed her­self. The pup may re­main with its mother for as long as 3 years even after wean­ing.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding season

  Mediterranean monk seals mate during the months of September-November.

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• Average gestation period

  11 months

• Average gestation period

  289 days

  AnAge

• Range weaning age

  6 (high) weeks

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  4 to 6 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  4 to 6 years

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

These seals live up to 30 years of age.

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  30 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  23.7 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

The Mediter­ranean monk seal spends most of its time in a lim­ited range; they don't mi­grate long dis­tances. There can be up to 20 in­di­vid­u­als in a colony of Mediter­ranean monk seals. On land, the seal is a soli­tary species.

In the water, they are very good divers and swim­mers. They swim so well that they can out­ma­neu­ver a shark.

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

When com­mu­ni­cat­ing with each other they make very high pitched sounds. This is done mainly while in the water to let each other know if some­thing is wrong or if dan­ger is ap­proach­ing.

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Mediter­ranean monk seals are di­ur­nal. They feed in shal­low coastal wa­ters on a large va­ri­ety of fish. This in­cludes eels, sar­dines, tuna, lob­sters, flat­fish, and mul­lets. They also feed on cephalopods such as oc­to­puses.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore

• Animal Foods
• fish
• mollusks

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

In the past the Mediter­ranean monk seal was killed for its skin and body parts, which were said to pro­vide pro­tec­tion against a va­ri­ety of med­ical prob­lems. The seal has also been killed for food.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

The only way that Mediter­ranean monk seals af­fect hu­mans neg­a­tively is that com­pete with fish­er­men. These seals are mainly harm­less oth­er­wise.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Fewer than 500 in­di­vid­u­als of Mediter­ranean monk seals re­main in the world today. They have been killed by fish­er­man who see them as com­pe­ti­tion, and many have been lost due to being caught in fish­er­mans' nets. Pol­lu­tion and boat traf­fic are also a prob­lem for this species. Pol­lu­tion comes mainly from human waste. This waste gets into the water in which the seals live and into the food that they eat. The prob­lem with boat traf­fic is from a lot of boats being in the same area that the seals oc­cupy, re­sult­ing at worst in col­li­sions be­tween seals and boats

• IUCN Red List

  Critically Endangered
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Critically Endangered
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  Appendix I

Other Com­ments

This seal is one of the world's rarest mam­mals, and it is on the list of the 20 most en­dan­gered species.

An­other issue with the seal is that it is very sen­si­tive to dis­tur­bances. Preg­nant fe­males are es­pe­cially sen­si­tive and will often abort when dis­turbed.

Con­trib­u­tors

Melody Ben­ton (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

1999. "Seal Con­ser­va­tion So­ci­ety. Mediter­ranean Monk Seal" (On-line). Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 12, 2005 at http://​www.​pinnipeds.​org/​species/​medmonk.​htm.

Fertl, D. 1996. "African Ma­rine Mam­mals, Mediter­ranean Monk Seal" (On-line). Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 12, 2005 at http://​csiwhalesalive.​org/​csimonk.​html.

Jef­fer­son, T., S. Leather­wood, M. Web­ber. 1994. FAO Species Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion Guide, Ma­rine Mam­mals of the World. Rome: United Na­tions En­vi­ron­ment Pro­gramme.

Kas­noff, C. 1999. "In The Wild" (On-line). Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 10, 1999 at http://​www.​bagheera.​com/​inthewild/​vanishing.​htm.

Leather­wood, S., R. Reeves, B. Stew­art. 1992. The Sierra Club­Hand­book of Seals and Sire­ni­ans. San Fran­cisico, CA: Sierra Club Books.

Ried­man, M. 1990. The Pin­nipeds Seals, Sea Lions, and Wal­ruses. Berke­ley, CA: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.