Editing Caribbean monk seal (section)

===Extinction===
Through the first half of the 20th century, Caribbean monk seal sightings became much rarer. In 1908, a small group of seals was seen at the once bustling Tortugas Islands.<ref name=Moore /> Fishermen captured six seals in 1915, which were sent to Pensacola, Florida, and eventually released.<ref name=Allen>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=G|title=Extinct and vanishing Mammals of the Western Hemisphere.|url=https://archive.org/details/extinctvanishing00allerich|year=1942|publisher=American Committee for International Wild Life Protection}}</ref>  A seal was killed near Key West, Florida in March 1922.<ref name=Townsend2>{{cite book|last=Townsend|first=C|title=The West Indian Seal|year=1923|pages=55}}</ref>  There were sightings of Caribbean monk seals on the Texas coast in 1926 and 1932.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/1375180|jstor=1375180|title=General Notes|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=28|issue=3|pages=289–299|last1=Gunter|first1=Gordon|last2=Leedy|first2=Daniel L.|last3=McMurry|first3=Frank B.|last4=Schantz|first4=Viola S.|last5=Mickey|first5=Arthur B.|last6=Steele|first6=Charles N.|last7=Bishop|first7=Sherman C.|last8=Peterson|first8=Randolph L.|last9=Engels|first9=William L.|last10=Jaeger|first10=Edmund C.|author-link10=Edmund Jaeger|last11=Angulo|first11=Juan J.|last12=Doetschman|first12=Willis H.|year=1947}}</ref>  The last seal recorded to be killed by humans was killed on the Pedro Cays in 1939.<ref name=Lewis>{{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=C|title=The West Indian Seal|journal=Natural History Notes of the Natural History Society of Jamaica|year=1948|volume=34|pages=169–171}}</ref>  Two more seals were seen on Drunken Mans Cay, just south of Kingston, [[Jamaica]], in November 1949.<ref name=King /> In 1952 the Caribbean monk seal was confirmed sighted for the last time at [[Serranilla Bank]].<ref name=Rice>{{cite book|last=Rice|first=D|title=Caribbean monk seal (''Monachus tropicalis''). In Seals. Proceedings of working meeting of seal specialists on threatened and depleted seals of the world, held under the auspices of the Survival Service Commission of the IUCN, 18–19 August|year=1973|publisher=Univ. Guelph, IUCN Publ, Suppl. paper|location=Ontario, Canada. Morges, Switzerland}}</ref>

The final extinction of the Caribbean monk seal was triggered by two main factors. The most visible factor contributing to the Caribbean monk seals' demise was the nonstop hunting and killing of the seals in the 18th and 19th centuries to obtain the oil held within their blubber.<ref name=Adam>{{cite journal|last=Adam|first=Peter|title=''Monachus tropicali''|journal=Mammalian Species|date=July 2004|doi=10.1644/747|volume=747|pages=1–9|doi-access=free}}</ref> The insatiable demand for seal products in the Caribbean encouraged hunters to slaughter the Caribbean monk seals by the hundreds.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sloane|first=H|title=A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, with the natural history of the herbs and trees, four-footed beasts, fishes, birds, insects, reptiles, &c. of the last of those islands; to which is prefix'd an introduction, wherein is an account of the inhabitants, air, waters, diseases, trade &c. of that place, with some relations concerning the neighboring continent and islands of America|year=1707|volume=1|issue=1|pages=1–419|location=London}}</ref> The Caribbean monk seals' docile nature and lack of flight instinct in the presence of humans made them very easy to kill.<ref name=Ward /> The second factor was the overfishing of the reefs that sustained the Caribbean monk seal population. With no fish or mollusks to feed on, the seals that were not killed by hunters for oil died of starvation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McClenachan |first1=Loren |last2=Cooper |first2=Andrew B. |title=Extinction rate, historical population structure and ecological role of the Caribbean monk seal |journal=Proc. R. Soc. B |year=2008 |volume=275 |pages=1351–1358 |pmc=2602701 |pmid=18348965 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.1757 |issue=1641}}</ref>  Surprisingly few conservation measures were taken towards attempting to save the Caribbean monk seal; by the time it was placed on the endangered species list in 1967, it was likely already extinct.<ref name=Adam />

Unconfirmed sightings of Caribbean monk seals by local fishermen and divers are relatively common in [[Haiti]] and Jamaica, but two recent scientific expeditions failed to find any sign of the species. It is possible the mammal is still extant, but some biologists strongly believe the sightings are of wandering [[hooded seal]]s, which have been positively identified on Caribbean archipelagos such as [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[United States Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.monachus-guardian.org/mguard08/08newcar.htm|title=Caribbean Monk Seal News – Monachus Guardian 4 (2): November 2001|website=www.monachus-guardian.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/aa4eb370d71ba91407c8c54e47bdd68b|title=Wounded Seal Found On Puerto Rican Beach – Thousands of Miles From Home|last=Beard|first=David|date=22 July 1993|website=AP News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514084831/https://apnews.com/article/aa4eb370d71ba91407c8c54e47bdd68b|archive-date=14 May 2021|access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref>