Extinct Animals : Mediterranean Monk Seal

Once common along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts and on the Atlantic shores of northwest Africa, the Canary Islands, and Madeira, this animal now probably numbers fewer than 1,000 and continues to decline.

Although legally protected, it has been persecuted for many centuries by fishermen for its damage to nets and for the fish it eats. In more recent times, the growth of tourism and human disturbance of remote coasts, rocky islands and beaches are believed to have had a serious effect on the seals’ reproductive success. Reserves free from human disturbance and strict law enforcement are vital to this mammal’s survival.