Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 133, January 2016, pp. 1-29. | Page 4

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The taxidermied Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus, Hermann 1779) at the
Paulus-Haus Museum – Deutscher Verein vom Heiligen Lande in Al-Quds (Jerusalem),
Occupied Palestine. Photo: Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher Khalaf-von Jaffa.
23.07.2014. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/15401818242/
In 2008, lactation was reported in an open beach, the first such record since 1945,
which could suggest the seal could begin feeling increasingly safe to return to
open beaches for breeding purposes in Cabo Blanco (Wikipedia).
Pups make first contact with the water two weeks after their birth, and are
weaned at around 18 weeks of age; females caring for pups will go off to feed for
an average of nine hours. Most individuals are believed to reach maturity at four
years of age. The gestation period lasts close to a year. However, it is believed to
be common among monk seals of the Cabo Blanco colony to have a gestation
period lasting slightly longer than a year (Wikipedia).

Diet
Mediterranean monk seals are diurnal and feed on a variety of fish and mollusks,
primarily octopus, squid, and eels, up to 3 kg per day. They are known to forage
mostly at depths of 150–230 feet, but some have been observed by the NOAA in a
submersible at a known feeding ground at a depth of 500 feet. Monk seals prefer
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 133 – January 2016