First Description of the Underwater Sounds in the Mediterranean Monk Seal Monachus monachus in Greece: Towards Establishing a Vocal Repertoire.

ABSTRACT: The Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is one of the most endangered pinnipeds in the world, and is classified as "Endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Any additional knowledge about the species is invaluable to its effective conservation. In the present study, we deployed an autonomous underwater recorder in an important reproductive area of the Mediterranean monk seal in Greece to describe its underwater vocal repertoire. Over the 330 h of continuous recordings, 9231 vocalizations were labelled as potentially produced by Mediterranean monk seals, and 1694 good quality calls were analyzed. We defined 18 call types divided into three main call categories: harmonic, noisy, and pulsative calls. We also described the soundscape in which this end

SUBMITTER: Charrier I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10044229 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature