How many baby Caribbean monk seals are in a litter?
A Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 16.28 kg (35.88 lbs) and measure 3.4 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Phocidae family (genus: Monachus). An adult Caribbean monk seal grows up to a size of 2.29 meter (7′ 7″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The Caribbean monk seal, West Indian seal or sea wolf (Neomonachus tropicalis) was a species of seal native to the Caribbean and is now believed to be extinct. The Caribbean monk seals’ main predators were sharks and humans. Overhunting of the seals for oil and overfishing of their food sources are the established reasons for the seals’ extinction. The last confirmed sighting of the Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952 at Serranilla Bank, between Jamaica and Nicaragua. In 2008, the species was officially declared extinct by the United States after an exhaustive search for the seals that lasted for about five years. This analysis was conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Caribbean monk seals were closely related to the Hawaiian monk seals, which live around the Hawaiian Islands and are now endangered, and Mediterranean monk seals, another endangered species.
Other animals of the family Phocidae
Caribbean monk seal is a member of the Phocidae, as are these animals:
- Crabeater seal becoming 39 years old
- Ribbon seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Baikal seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Mediterranean monk seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Harbor seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Spotted seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ringed seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Grey seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Harp seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Caspian seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Caribbean monk seal
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Northeast African mole-rat
- Hildegarde’s tomb bat
- White-throated guenon
- Northern hairy-nosed wombat
- Greater bamboo lemur
- Agile gibbon
- Mountain goat
- Black-striped wallaby
- Sun bear
- Western mastiff bat
Animals with the same weight as a Caribbean monk seal
What other animals weight around 198.38 kg (437.35 lbs)?
- Lion usually reaching 158.75 kgs (349.98 lbs)
- Grey seal usually reaching 197.29 kgs (434.95 lbs)
- Waterbuck usually reaching 203.2 kgs (447.98 lbs)
- Onager usually reaching 235.62 kgs (519.45 lbs)
- Sable antelope usually reaching 235.2 kgs (518.53 lbs)
- South American tapir usually reaching 167.75 kgs (369.83 lbs)
- Père David’s deer usually reaching 165.5 kgs (364.86 lbs)
- Thorold’s deer usually reaching 161.68 kgs (356.44 lbs)
- Greater kudu usually reaching 205.53 kgs (453.12 lbs)
- Australian sea lion usually reaching 189.14 kgs (416.98 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Caribbean monk seal
Also reaching around 2.29 meter (7′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Weddell seal gets as big as 2.55 meter (8′ 5″)
- Hawaiian monk seal gets as big as 2.24 meter (7′ 5″)
- Moose gets as big as 2.1 meter (6′ 11″)
- Polar bear gets as big as 2 meter (6′ 7″)
- Bearded seal gets as big as 2.3 meter (7′ 7″)
- Sambar deer gets as big as 2.04 meter (6′ 9″)
- Water buffalo gets as big as 2.65 meter (8′ 9″)
- Mountain zebra gets as big as 2.35 meter (7′ 9″)
- Lion gets as big as 1.84 meter (6′ 1″)
- Mountain nyala gets as big as 2.25 meter (7′ 5″)