Page 3 - Monachus_2015

A. A. Karamanlidis et al. The Mediterranean monk seal

Fig. 1. Map of the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa, indicating the current distribution of the Mediterranean monk seal and some of the loca-
tions cited in the text. Cross-hatched areas indicate the geographical range of extant monk seal populations; the question mark indicates an area
where the fate of the population is unknown; the exclamation marks indicate areas outside the current range where Mediterranean monk seals have
recently been seen.

approximately 40 monk seals (Pires et al. 2008, Pires 2011). BIOLOGY
Once almost extirpated and restricted to the remote
Desertas Islands (Neves & Pires 1999), monk seals have Mediterranean monk seals are medium-sized phocids
recently begun to recolonize the main island of Madeira (Gilmartin & Forcada 2002). In the Cabo Blanco subpopu-
(Pires 2011), where suitable habitat for the species still exists lation, the average length of female and male adults is 2.42
(Karamanlidis et al. 2003). and 2.51 m, respectively. Average length at birth is approxi-
An unknown number of monk seals might still survive mately 1 m (range: 0.88–1.03 m) at both the Cabo Blanco
along the Mediterranean coasts of eastern Morocco and and the monk seal subpopulation in the eastern Mediterra-
perhaps Algeria (Mo et al. 2011), but without systematic nean (Marchessaux 1989, Samaranch & González 2000,
monitoring, the status and fate of this subpopulation Dendrinos 2011). Newborn pups weigh 15–26 kg and adults
remains uncertain. 240–300 kg; the maximum weights reported for the species
The monk seal populations at Cabo Blanco in the Atlan- are 400 kg for a male adult and 302 kg for a pregnant female
tic (Martínez-Jauregui et al. 2012), and at Gyaros Island in (Sergeant et al. 1978, Boulva 1979, Marchessaux &
the eastern Mediterranean (Karamanlidis et al. 2013), are Pergent-Martini 1991, Gilmartin & Forcada 2002,
the only large extant aggregations of the species that still Dendrinos 2011).
preserve the structure of a colony; the other subpopulations Mediterranean monk seals are characterized by morpho-
in the eastern Mediterranean are usually small, fragmented logical differences between different development stages
groups of <20 individuals. (González et al. 1996, Samaranch & González 2000). Male
In recent years, sporadic extralimital occurrences of indi- adults have an overall black pelage with a white belly patch,
vidual monk seals have been reported in countries where in contrast to female adults that are generally brown or grey
the species is considered to be effectively extinct, such as with a lighter belly (Samaranch & González 2000,
Albania (Anonymous 2012), Croatia (Gomercˇic´ et al. 2011), Dendrinos 2011; Fig. 2). In Madeira and Cabo Blanco, some
Egypt (Di Sciara & Fouad 2012), Israel (Scheinin et al. subadults and adults have been recorded with a partially or
2011), Italy (Mo 2011), Lebanon (Anonymous 2010b), the completely whitish pelage (Pires 2011, unpublished data,
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Alfaghi et al. 2013), Spain CBD Habitat). Intense social and mating interactions often
(Anonymous 2008a), and Syria (Abou-Zahra 2013). result in scarring on the throats and hind flippers of males
Without recurring sightings of different individuals, and on the backs of females (Grau et al. 1994, Forcada &
however, and ongoing, systematic monitoring and recovery Aguilar 2000, Samaranch & González 2000).
efforts, the species should still be regarded as recently Monk seal pups are born with a characteristic black to
extinct in these countries. dark chocolate woolly coat (also known as ‘lanugo’ fur) and

Mammal Review (2015) © 2015 The Mammal Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd 3