150 E. Saydam et al.
FIG. 1 The location of the Gökova and Datça-Bozburun Special Environmental Protection Areas in the eastern Mediterranean, and the 322 km length of coastal area Gökova Bay surveyed. The exact locations of the caves mentioned in this article are not provided, for the security of the species.
PLATE 1 (a) The cave (Fig. 2) prior to construction of the dry ledge, (b) following construction of the ledge, and (c) a juvenile monk seal Monachus monachus using the ledge.
FIG. 2 The dimensions of the marine cave in which the ledge was constructed (Plate 1).
Jute sacks, with a volume of c. 27 l, filled with a sand and
cement mixture at a ratio of c. 350 kg of pozzolanic cement (TS EN 197-1 CEM IV/B (P) 32.5 N) to 1 m3 gravelly sand, boulders and crushed stone were transferred by truck to a loading point 11 km from the cave. We transported all materials on an 8.5 m fishing boat to the cave entrance. The boulders weighing 10–25 kg each, and crushed stone, were transferred in a rigid inflatable boat to the opening of the narrow chamber of the cave and then moved in large buckets or by hand. The boulders (filling a total area of 4 m3) were laid as the foundation and 300 kg of crushed stone was used to fill the spaces between them. The jute sacks were then transported from the fishing boat by a canoe to the ledge location, to keep them dry. A total of
120 jute sacks were laid on the foundation, to become wet and thus for the sand and cement mixture to set (Plate 1b). During 24 June 2019–17 September 2020 we monitored
the cave using a camera trap, visiting once every 2 months to download any recordings and replace batteries. The cam- era was set in hybrid-mode, to take three consecutive photo- graphs and a 15-s video for each trigger. The recordings from the 405 events were analysed to determine any use of the cave by seals, and the purpose (resting and/or pupping), frequency of use, and to identify the sex and age group of any seals (Samaranch & González, 2000). The recordings revealed that a monk seal first used
the artificial ledge 8 months after construction (Table 1, Plate 1c) and on three additional occasions (Table 2), with the longest stay nearly 5 h. Its size, inferred relative to the dimension of the jute sacks, and morphology indicated it was a juvenile. It mostly used the cave nocturnally (Table 1). The proximity of other caves suitable for seals in Gökova Bay (c. 20 km and 84km away)may have contribut- ed to the discoverability of the ledge by monk seals.
Oryx, 2023, 57(2), 149–151 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321001046
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
