HONOLULU — Federal officials have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo. Humans hunting the docile creatures for research, food and blubber left the population unsustainable, say biologists who warn that Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals could be the next to go. The last confirmed sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was in 1952 between Jamaica and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service confirmed Friday that the species is extinct. Kyle Baker, a biologist for NOAA’s Fisheries Service southeast region, said the species is the only seal to become extinct from human causes. The seals were first classified as endangered in 1967, and wildlife experts investigated several reported sightings over the past few decades. But officials determined they were other seal types. The federal agency says there are fewer than 1,200 Hawaiian and 500 Mediterranean monk seals remaining, and their populations are declining. ‘We hope we’ve learned from the extinction of Caribbean monk seals, and can provide stronger protection for their Hawaiian and Mediterranean relatives,’ Baker said. The Hawaiian monk seal population, protected by NOAA, is declining at a […]