The Monachus-Guardian — Headlines-News-Articles — 2008-2018
Dedicated to Monk Seals and their Threatened Habitats
Last March the Natural Park of Madeira (SPNM) received information that a dead monk seal had been discovered near Ribeira Brava, a village on the south coast of the island.
SPNM staff investigated and, with the help of some local people, found the body. It turned out to be “Metade” (“Half”), the adult male that was found in 2013 with a deep wound to his neck. Continue reading “Death of the monk seal known as “Half””
As a result of the campaign to monitor the monk seal breeding season in Madeira’s Desertas islands, we could confirm already the birth of two pups, a female and a male. These two, born in September/October, were monitored over 2 weeks at the entrance of Bufador cave, where a concealed lookout post was established. From here it was possible to identify the group of seals using the cave and observe their behaviour without disturbing them or influencing their natural behaviour. Continue reading “Seal breeding season in the Desertas Islands, Madeira”
LIFE Madeira Monk Seal – Mediterranean monk seal conservation in Madeira and development of a conservation status surveillance system
Duration: 01-JUN-2014 to 30-MAY-2018
The project LIFE Madeira Monk Seal aims to resolve known threats to the monk seal and improve its long-term conservation in the Madiera region. It specifically seeks to address conflict between the habitat needs of the seal and human activities in coastal areas.
The project plans to draft and have formally adopted a new Monk Seal Regional Conservation Plan in the Madeira archipelago. It aims to increase the intervention capacity of Madeira’s Natural Park Service, as the competent authority, to tackle threats or risk situations for the species. It will also directly intervene to restore and protect habitats used by the seal for reproduction and rest, including beaches and submerged or partially submerged sea caves. Continue reading “New EU LIFE project for Madeira’s monk seals”
For the second year in a row, Mediterranean monk seal images have been collected from the automatic cameras installed in the maternity cave of the Desertas Islands. Together, these are the first images ever taken of monk seals inside a cave in Madeira. Continue reading “First monk seal images from the maternity cave of the Desertas Islands”
The presence of monk seals around Madeira is no longer headline news. Here at the Parque Natural da Madeira Service (PNMS) we have collected almost a 1000 sightings of Mediterranean monk seals around the main island of Madeira since the year 2000. What is new though, is the behaviour of two adult males that began using areas frequented by humans, such as beaches or bathing complexes, marinas and ports. Since June 2013, we have collected 47 reports of these two seals in such areas, along the southeast coast of Madeira. Most of the sightings described the seals as resting in the sea or on land, but also hunting, and ignoring human presence, even if in some situations curiosity brought people very close to the animals.
This is not a common behaviour for this species. In the case of one of these two seals, named “Half”, who was found last August with a severe injury to his neck, his weakness, and the possibility that he was fed by people, could be one explanation [see Wounded Madeiran monk seal returns to the sea]. Another is that as these two seals were born on Madeira and not on the uninhabited Desertas islands, this resulted in an adaptation of behaviour towards human presence. Combined with knowledge of more sheltered places to rest and the advantage of being able to hunt in these areas without too much disturbance, it is a possibility!
Generally the reaction of the people of Madeira to these surprising sightings is very positive – they inform the PNMS and the marine authorities. However, for the most part their perception is that the seals are ill and require veterinary treatment. As a precautionary measure, it is important to keep an eye on these seals in case an intervention should become necessary. So far, however, we are finding that the best intervention is none — just to create space for the seals.
Informing Madeiran people how to coexist with the monk seal is becoming all the more important.
Portugal
Portugal
We are now in the monk seal pupping season in Madeira’s Desertas Islands. Over recent years, peak births have occurred in October, but this year we detected the first pup on 31 October. This pup was observed over 4 days to be always alone, resting on the same beach – Tabaqueiro. When on one day it was considered to be overly lethargic, it was decided to take the pup to the Rehabilitation Unit on the Desertas Islands. Fortunately, this allowed us to confirm that the pup was in a good condition; a male about three weeks of age, 114cm in length and weighing around 20kg. Awaiting better sea conditions, the young seal was released into its natural habitat the following day. Immediately entering the sea, it swam to the cave where we believe it was born – Tabaqueiro cave, considered the monk seal maternity cave of the Desertas Islands. Continue reading “First pup of 2013 spends 24 hours in Desertas Islands Rehabilitation Unit”