As far as the decline of the monk seal goes, like I said extinction can be a tricky thing to call. As long as they were seen as recently as the 50s, I suppose there was reason to believe individuals or small populations might still be present and therefore they continued to be recognized as an extant species. Extremely threatened, yes, but declaring a species extinct is a fairly serious verdict and so must be considered carefully. There are many cases of species being prematurely declared extinct and of so called “Lazarus taxa” reappearing after being thought extinct for a long time, sometimes after millions of years. You can see the problem this poses, and I guess after they did a thorough search for specimens and turned up nothing they figured the species had finally expired. I still think even now it might be premature, since the range is so large.

I completely agree that it is amazing that this species of seal made it as long as it did considering the challenges it faced from such extensive hunting and exploitation. The fact that it overcame these obstacles until so recently gives me some hope that some may still be around and that it might pop up again at some time in the future. If it does, I hope efforts are made to try and protect it.

What is surprising about the Caribbean Monk Seal is that it still existed 50 years ago, since this was one of the first species to face overexploitation over 500 years, as far back as the first Spanish colonies on Hispaniola in 1492. They were extensively and indiscriminately hunted by settlers throughout the following centuries as a convenient source of meat and lamp oil.

It is strange that they were still seen up to the 1950’s, since for all intents and purposes, the Caribbean Monk Seal was already extremely rare and on the brink of extinction since the 1860’s.

Point Radix- I’m sorry if I am misunderstanding what you were trying to say, but I’m not sure what is meant by the above comment about the seal not being a “normal part of the ecosystem”. It is far too soon for the ecosystem to have adapted to this animal’s absence, and in fact it is likely to suffer as a result of such a large missing species. This was an animal that evolved into a particular role within this habitat. It’s NOT being there is not a normal part of the ecosystem. I would say one found off the coast of Florida would be protected.

But on the other hand, if one were to be sighted off Florida would it be an unprotected species since it is not longer considered to be a “normal part of the ecosystem”?

I hope there are a few left out there someplace happily breeding in a hidden cay, but I know the odds aren’t so good.