Mediterranean Monk Seal
Monachus monachus · Mammal
Thought to be the rarest seal in the world, with some 800 to 1,000 left in scattered groups in the Mediterranean, above all the Aegean, around Madeira and at Cabo Blanco on the Atlantic coast between Mauritania and Western Sahara. Adults reach about 2.4 m and 300 kg, with very short fur, black in males, brown to dark grey in females. Until the 20th century they gathered and gave birth on open beaches; driven off by people, they now use sea caves, often with underwater entrances on remote, rugged coasts, where storms kill many pups. Fishermen whose nets it damages have killed it out of revenge; the ancient Greeks and Romans feared and reviled it for its looks and smell, and in the Odyssey the sea god Proteus herds monk seals for Poseidon.
- Danger
- Harmless
- How it is met
- In colonies, by day
- Size
- Large
- In winter
- Active in winter
Where it lives
Rocky Shore, Coastal Shelf, Sea Cave
Sources
Open it in Biomes — MGS Toolbox