Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 85, January 2009, pp. 1-20. | Page 12

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eastern Mediterranean in south-central Turkey, around the coasts of Cyprus, and on the
Lebanese coast. The Atlantic population exists in discrete, widely separated populations
at the Desertas Islands, rarely at the main island of Madeira, and in southern Spanish
Sahara [Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara]. There are a few recent records from
the Azores" (Sergeant et al. 1978).
More recently, however, the species has disappeared from most of its former range, with
the most severe contraction and fragmentation occurring during the 20th century.
Nations and island groups where the monk seal has been extirpated during the past
century include France and Corsica, Spain and the Balearic Islands, Italy and Sicily,
Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. More recently, the species is also thought to have
become extinct in the Black Sea. Despite sporadic sightings – possibly of stragglers
from other regions – Monachus monachus may also be regarded as effectively extinct in
Sardinia, the Adriatic coasts and islands of Croatia, and the Sea of Marmara. Reports
also suggest that the monk seal may have been eradicated from Tunisia. Similarly, only
a handful of individuals reportedly survive along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.
In 1997, a severe mass mortality affected the Cap Blanc Mediterranean monk seal
colony off the coast of Mauritania. The exact cause is unknown, but a viral epidemic and
poisoning by toxic algae are the most likely candidates. The Cap Blanc colony was the
largest population of Mediterranean monk seals (Macdonald 2001).

The Mediterranean monk seal is now restricted to a handful of small and scattered
colonies in the Ionian and Aegean Seas and the southern coast of Turkey in the
Mediterranean, as well as scattered populations in northwest Africa on the coasts of

Gazelle – Number 85 – January 2009