The Mediterranean monk seal's (Monachus monachus) former range extended throughout the Northwest Atlantic Africa, Mediterranean and Black Sea,  coastlines, including all offshore islands of the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic and its islands: Canary, Madeira, Ilhas Desertas, Porto Santo, as far west as the Azores.
Vagrants could be found as far south as Gambia and the Cape Verde islands, and as far north as continental Portugal and Atlantic France.
Today, the cape hosts the largest surviving single population of the species, and the only remaining site which still seems to preserve a colony structure.
In the summer of 1997, two-thirds of its seal population were wiped out within two months, extremely compromising the species' viable population.
While opinions on the precise causes of this epidemic remain divided (the most likely cause being a morbilivirus or, more likely, a toxic algae bloom,) the mass die-off emphasized the precarious status of a species already regarded as critically endangered throughout its range.

While still far below the early 1997 count, numbers in this all-important location have started a slow-paced recovery ever since.
Currently, the population in this location is estimated at 270 individuals, down from some 310 in 1997, but still the largest single colony by far.
 The threat of a similar incident that could wipe out the entire population remains.
The Mediterranean monk seal's (Monachus monachus) former range extended throughout the Northwest Atlantic Africa, Mediterranean and Black Sea,  coastlines, including all offshore islands of the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic and its islands: Canary, Madeira, Ilhas Desertas, Porto Santo, as far west as the Azores. Vagrants could be found as far south as Gambia and the Cape Verde islands, and as far north as continental Portugal and Atlantic France. Today, the cape hosts the largest surviving single population of the species, and the only remaining site which still seems to preserve a colony structure. In the summer of 1997, two-thirds of its seal population were wiped out within two months, extremely compromising the species' viable population. While opinions on the precise causes of this epidemic remain divided (the most likely cause being a morbilivirus or, more likely, a toxic algae bloom,) the mass die-off emphasized the precarious status of a species already regarded as critically endangered throughout its range.
While still far below the early 1997 count, numbers in this all-important location have started a slow-paced recovery ever since. Currently, the population in this location is estimated at 270 individuals, down from some 310 in 1997, but still the largest single colony by far.  The threat of a similar incident that could wipe out the entire population remains.
Ras Nouadhibou