| Medvjedica Bruna |
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About monk seal ( MONACHUS MONACHUS )
Mediterranean monk seal is the only specimen of mammal carnivore (order Carnivora), paddlers (suborder Pinnipedia) in Mediterranean sea. She is also called sea man. She is well adjusted to life in sea, but some characteristics of her land predecessors can be seen. Monk seals are great swimmers and can dive for a long time, but they spend part of their lives on land. When they are on land, they are ussually on beaches, in caves and on rocks. Those are always isolated, rocky places hard to reach. They live alone or in small groups, and fish is their food.
This mellow animal, biggest among seals, that can live up to 40 years, is easily recognizable by silver color of fur, besides on youngsters stomachs where white or yellow spot is visible. Monk seal is 3 meter long and weights up to 450 kg. She is active during the whole day, and main food are fish, cephalopods and crabs. She can it up to 10 - 12 kg food. She's intelligent, and has good hearing and vision.
Monk seals don't usually stick to one place and some of them are known to be wandering tenths, and even hundreds of kilometers out of their territory borders. Female seal brings only one baby to the world, and gives birth and feeds youngsters on land. Baby seal, completely depending on it's mother, first six weeks of it's life intensivly sucks milk so it would get fat skin of adipose tissue that protects it from freezing. Next three years, baby seal stays with it's mother and prepares itself for independent life.
First seals in this part of the world appeared couple of million years ago, long time before men. Mediterranean sea monk (Monachus monachus) spread all around Mediterranean sea. Sea monk that lives in Croatia, is rare example of seal of warm seas. Besides it, there are carribean sea monk (Monachus tropicalis), for which it is believed to be extincted since last century, and hawaian sea monk (Monachus schauinslandi), which was on the edge of extinction, but it is saved with great effort and investment.
Deer Teenagers, How many times have you thought, how good would it be sitting on sea shore, and watching live and amiable Mediterranean sea monk, intelligent and emotional sea mammal, sea legend, and to play with it, dandle it even a little bit, tell it all your summer adventures and take care of it. Surely you wished to hear more about it from TV or read about it in newspapers.
Did you know that Mediterranean sea monk is one of the tenuoused mammals on Earth. Becaude of that, today we can't talk about its population in Adriatic sea, but only about single units which are rarely seen by people. Our sea still gives necessary conditions for their survival, but for return of monk seal in Adriatic sea it is necessary to assure special secured areas, also called sea parks, where we could admire them again.
Until today, scientists researched and approved that mediterranean monk seal, sea man or sea bear, habbitates in 62 caves along whole Adriatic coast. Fishermen used to kill them from pure despite, and would give excuse for killing them in seals wrapping their nets, which couldn't be truth because seal is one of the rare mammals that feeds with fish while moving which means that seal could never stuck in fishermen net unless someone - hunted with mean.
By the voices that monk seal creates, we can recognise sorrow, happiness and anger. When it sleeps it snores like human. Intent of Organization is promotion of idea of caring for ecology of sea and making surviving possible.
With protection of this indangerous species, mesiterranean seal monk, whole ecological system of Adriatic sea would recover. Protection should be peformed by creating new national parks and secured areas, without fish hunt and fishboats and with multiplying number of the fish in the sea.
After couple of decades of preparing ecological system of Adriatic sea, mediterranean seal monk could come again. In order to achieve its goals, Organization will try to make contact with other similar organizations, and with schools and highschools from country and out of country. Besides cooperation with its members, civil and law persons, Teddy Bear Organization will establish cooperation with various government and non-govenment organizations.
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