GEDA-i and "SPOT THE MONK" project!

Photo: P. Henry at IUCN

The increasing sightings of the Monk Seal Monachus monachus in Italy and central Mediterranean indicate a possible increase of the Atlantic (here) as well as Eastern Mediterranean populations. As part of the Med for Med project (more here), Prof E. Valsecchi has developed a novel technique to reveal Monk Seal traces of DNA in the environment (eDNA, here and here). “Spot the Monk” is the new initiative to assess Monk seals presence in the Central and Western Mediterranean. The first results are very promising (here). D.  Ramella, the GEDA-i and several collaborators are collecting samples around Mallorca from sites originally used by the seals. Stay tuned to know the results!