Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
U.S.: Caribbean monk seal is extinct, humans to blame
Share: 
by PEP | June 6, 2008 at 01:07 pm
383 views | 2 Recommendations | 3 comments
Photos
The University of Michigan's excellent Animal Diversity Web has more information on these seals that experts said were killed off by man before they could be studied.
After five years of futile efforts to find or confirm sightings of any Caribbean monk seals — even just one — the U.S. government on Friday announced that the species is officially extinct and the only seal to vanish due to human causes.
"Humans left the Caribbean monk seal population unsustainable after overhunting them," Kyle Baker, a biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this led to their demise and labels the species as the only seal to go extinct from human causes."
A Caribbean monk seal — the only subtropical seal native to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico — had not been seen for more than 50 years. The last confirmed sighting was in 1952 at Seranilla Bank, between Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Advertisement
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 15:18 on June 6th, 2008
sad sad sad
at 12:30 on June 7th, 2008
PEP, You WERE first. and it is sad. and there are no photos. maybe on National Geographic.
at 12:39 on June 7th, 2008
Thanks, Rene.
I hope to add photos today. There have been NP switchover problems, and here at home, I was without A/C in 99 degree weather. So I had limited use of my computer, which ...overheated and had to be shut down a great deal. I have photos and hope to upload them today. This is the longest I've been able to stay on the computer any day this week!