The U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed Friday, June 6, 2008, that the Caribbean monk seal is extinct--due to the actions of mankind. The last one was sighted in 1952 off a group of reef islands in the waters between Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

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One of the last recorded sightings of a Caribbean monk seal in the United States was in 1932 off of the coast of Texas. A small colony of the seals was last seen at Serranilla Bank in 1952, between Jamaica and Mecico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

Serranilla Bank, a U.S. possession, is an uninhabited reef in the western Caribbean Sea, a few hundred miles north- northeast of Nicaragua.

U.S. experts state that the Caribbean monk seal is the only seal to have been killed off by the actions of humans. For the last three hundred or so years the seal was hunted by Man for food, skins, and blubber.

The first recorded killing of a Caribbean Monk Seal by a non-native human was in 1494 when the crew with Christopher Columbus’ second expedition to the New World killed eight of them for food.

Later, their blubber was processed by Man into oils and lubricants. Their skins were used to make linings for trunks, clothing, bags, and other such purposes.

The Caribbean monk seal was covered in brown fur, sprayed with small amounts of gray. It had a yellow underside (belly). It was the only subtropical seal native to the Caribbean area.

With a population of around 250,000 at its peak, Man found the seal was easy to kill because it spent much of its time on the beach. On land, it moved slowly and did not have a fear of mankind.

It was a curious animal and without aggression to Man. These characteristics led to its downfall. Two similar species of monk seal are also endangered of becoming extinct--also due to the activities of Man. Read more about them on the next page. With the Caribbean monk seal gone, scientists now point to possible extinctions to the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) and the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus).