page_title: Monk seal
section_title: Hawaii
hierarchical_section_title: Monk seal / Interactions with humans / Hawaii
caption_attribution_description: Young monk seal underwater. Image ID: anim2600, NOAA's Ark Collection Location: Hawaii, Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Pearl and Hermes Reef Credit: NOAA/PIFSC/HMSRP
context_page_description: Monk seals are earless seals of the tribe Monachini. They are the only earless seals found in tropical climates. The two genera of monk seals, Monachus and Neomonachus, comprise three species: the Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus; the Hawaiian monk seal, Neomonachus schauinslandi; and the Caribbean monk seal, Neomonachus tropicalis, which became extinct in the 20th century. The two surviving species are now rare and in imminent danger of extinction. All three monk seal species were classified in genus Monachus until 2014, when the Caribbean and Hawaiian species were placed into a new genus, Neomonachus.
  Monk seals have a slender body and are agile. They have a broad, flat snout with nostrils on the top. Monk seals are polygynous, and group together in harems. They feed mainly on bony fish and cephalopods, but they are opportunistic. The skin is covered in small hairs, which are generally black in males and brown or dark gray in females. Monk seals are found in the Hawaiian archipelago, certain areas in the Mediterranean Sea, and formerly in the tropical areas of the west Atlantic Ocean.
  All species experienced overhunting by sealers.
caption: Young monk seal underwater
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