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Dear friends, the Octopus Foundation team has the immense privilege of announcing the birth of a baby Mediterranean monk seal in the early morning of November 2nd, 2020.

This happy event took place in one of the caves that we remotely monitor with our open source systems.

Our cameras installed in different sites are perfectly autonomous, and thus do not disturb the marine mammals which are fearful and take refuge at the bottom of sea caves often difficult to access.

A few hours after birth of baby monk seal © Octopus Foundation 2020 Before and after birth of baby monk seal © Octopus Foundation 2020

The mother gave birth between 3:30 am and 4:00 am to a little seal that was named “Kyriakì” (which means “Sunday” in Greek).

The baby is already able to swim and follow his mother after only 4 days. Together, they left the beach to disappear for a few days.

After 9 days of breastfeeding, the two animals returned in front of the camera to let us appreciate the benefits of breast milk, which must be particularly rich since the baby seems to have doubled in size. Time for a well-deserved nap!

9 days after birth, mother and baby seal are back in front of the camera © Octopus Foundation 2020 Napping is one of the favorite's activity © Octopus Foundation 2020

The two animals appear to be in good health, as it can be seen on the below video whose recording was remotely triggered.

Female Mediterranean monk seals usually have a single baby per year, and not each year. The birth of this baby monk seal is excellent news, given that the species is on the IUCN Red List.