Monachus tropicalis

The Caribbean monk seal, West Indian seal or sea wolf (as early explorers referred to it; Neomonachus tropicalis) was a species of seal native to the Caribbean and is now believed to be extinct. The Caribbean monk seals' main predators were sharks and humans. Overhunting of the seals for oil and overfishing of their food sources are the established reasons for the seals' extinction. The last confirmed sighting of the Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952 at Serranilla Bank, between Jamaica and Nicaragua. In 2008, the species was officially declared extinct by the United States after an exhaustive search for the seals that lasted for about five years. This analysis was conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Caribbean monk seals were closely related to the Hawaiian monk seals, which live around the Hawaiian Islands and are now endangered, and Mediterranean monk seals, another endangered species. Caribbean monk seals had a relatively large, long, robust body, could grow to nearly 2.4 metres (8 ft) in length and weighed 170 to 270 kilograms (375 to 600 lb). Males were probably slightly larger than females, which is similar to Mediterranean monk seals. Like other monk seals, this species had a distinctive head and face. The head was rounded with an extended broad muzzle. The face had relatively large wide-spaced eyes, upward opening nostrils, and fairly big whisker pads with long light-colored and smooth whiskers. When compared to the body, the animal's foreflippers were relatively short with little claws and the hindflippers were slender. Their coloration was brownish and/or grayish, with the underside lighter than the dorsal area. Adults were darker than the more paler and yellowish younger seals. Caribbean monk seals were also known to have algae growing on their pelage, giving them a slightly greenish appearance, which is similar to Hawaiian monk seals. Historical records suggest that this species may have 'hauled out' at sites (resting areas on land) in large social groups (typically 20-40 animals) of up to 100 individuals throughout its range. The groups may have been organised based on age and life stage differences. Their diet most likely consisted of fish and crustaceans. Like other true seals, the Caribbean monk seal was sluggish on land. Its lack of fear of humans and an unaggressive and curious nature was taken advantage of by human hunters. Caribbean monk seals had a long pupping season, which is typical for pinnipeds living in subtropical and tropical habitats. In Mexico, breeding season peaked in early December. Like other monk seals, this species had four retractable nipples for suckling their young. Newborn pups were probably about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length and weighed 16 to 18 kilograms (35 to 40 lb) and reportedly had a sleek, black lanugo coat when born. It is believed this animal's average lifespan was approximately twenty years. Caribbean monk seals were found in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the western Atlantic Ocean. They probably preferred to haul out at sites (low sandy beaches above high tide) on isolated and secluded atolls and islands, but occasionally would visit the mainland coasts and deeper waters offshore. This species may have fed in shallow lagoons and reefs. The first historical mention of the Caribbean monk seal is recorded in the account of the second voyage of Christopher Columbus. In August 1494 a ship laid anchor off the mostly barren island of Alta Velo, south of Hispaniola, the party of men went and killed eight seals (Sea Wolves) that were resting on the beach. The second recorded interaction with Caribbean monk seals was Juan Ponce de León’s discovery of the Dry Tortugas Islands. On June 21, 1513 Ponce de León discovered the islands, he ordered a foraging party to go ashore, where the men killed fourteen of the docile seals. There are several more records throughout the colonial period of seals being discovered and hunted at Guadelupe, the Alacrane Islands, the Bahamas, the Pedro Cays, and Cuba. As early as 1688 sugar plantations owners sent out hunting parties to kill hundreds of seals every night in order to obtain oil to lubricate the plantations machinery. A 1707 account describes fisherman slaughtering seals by the hundreds for oil to fuel their lamps. By 1850 so many seals had been killed that there were no longer sufficient numbers for them to be commercially hunted. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scientific expeditions to the Caribbean encountered the Caribbean monk seal. In December 1886 the first recorded scientific expedition, to research seals, led by H. A. Ward and Professor F. Ferrari Perez as part of the Mexican Geographical and Exploring Survey, ventured to a small collection of reefs and a small cay known as the triangles (20.95° N 92.23° W) in search of Monachus tropicalis (=Neomonachus tropicalis). Although the research expedition was in the area for only four days, forty-two specimens were killed and taken away; the two leaders of the expedition shared them. Two specimens from this encounter survive intact at the British Museum of Natural History and the Cambridge Zoological Museum respectively. The expedition also captured a newly born seal pup that died in captivity a week later.