Video Cameras Watch Monk Seals
Study of Endangered Seals Aided by Remote Cameras in Breeding Caves
In Africa and Greece knowledge of Mediterranean monk seal behavior grows as shy species can be monitored without disturbance. Health & population monitoring possible.
With improved technology, remote video cameras can be much more easily used in exposed places like the sea caves inhabited by endangered Mediterranean monk seals. Just recently, video cameras in a cave in Greece captured the first footage of the birth of a monk seal pup. Equally important is the ability to monitor the health and populations of known breeding caves.
Elusive Species Avoids Humans
The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) has been very difficult to study. A long history of hunting for pelts and meat, followed by years of persecution by fishermen, caused the seals to alter their behavior, moving from spending time on open beaches to resting and breeding in remote caves. This elusive lifestyle saved them from extinction but also prevented scientists from learning much about them.
Monk Seal Monitoring with Video Cameras in Africa
Pioneering work by CBD-Habitat in Mauritania over the last 10 years has dealt with the problems and pitfalls of using a video camera in a stormy, wet ocean environment. Over time they have been able to monitor the recovery of the population there that was devastated by a red tide or Harmful Algal Bloom. Today, they are able to happily report that the number of pups born each year is nearly back to pre-mass mortality levels.
The cameras also allow them to keep track of the pups in the caves when storms are threatening. If very young pups are present the team will check numbers before and after storms, initiating a beach check if pups are missing. Under ideal conditions a pup may be found and can then be reunited with its mother or taken in for rehabilitation and release back to the wild.
Greek Video Camera Captures Birth of Monk Seal Pup
In Greece, monitoring via a video camera in a known breeding cave, the staff of MOm were able to get footage of the birth of a pup. With an orphaned pup in MOm’s care at the time, they were able to compare the development of the two pups during the course of the rehabilitation. They also learned a great deal about normal Mediterranean monk seal behavior in the wild.
Besides being able to identify and track individual animals, which will give life history information on the species, interactions between animals can be observed. And movement in and out of the caves may help researchers to learn more about the feeding habits of these endangered seals.
All of this will help in improving care of monk seals in rehabilitation. It will also provide needed information on which aspects of the monk seal’s environment are most in need of protection. Marine Protected Areas can then be developed and/or made more effective, as important part of saving the most endangered seal in the world.
