Hawaiian Monk Seal

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Hawaiian Monk Seal

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Phocidae
Genus: Monachus
Species: M. schauinslandi
Binomial name
Monachus schauinslandi
Matschie, 1905

The Hawaiian Monk Seal, Monachus schauinslandi, is an endangered earless seal that is endemic to the waters off of the outer Hawaiian Islands. Known to the native Hawaiians as `Ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua, it received its scientific name Monachus schauinslandi because the first skull known to science was brought back from Laysan Island by Dr. H. Schauinsland. It gets its common name from its round head covered with short hairs, giving it the appearance of a medieval friar. The name may also reflect the fact that the Hawaiian Monk Seal lives a more solitary existence, in comparison with other seals that in places collect in large colonies. The Hawaiian Monk Seal comes from ancestors that go far back in time and are the most primitive living members of the Family Phocidae, having separated from other true seals perhaps 15 million years ago.

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[edit] Description

Mature Hawaiian Monk Seals feature a gray pelage, or coat, which turns brown with weathering. Young Hawaiian Monk Seals are silver with creamy white stomachs, chests, and throats. Pups are black and woolly with fuzzy short hair. Newborn pups are clad in a black natal fur. A number of Hawaiian Monk Seals sport scars from attempted shark attacks or injuries from fishing gear. Females are often scarred by encounters with males, which can be particularly brutal during the mating season. If more than one male take an interest in a single female, they will often kill her.[citation needed] Females of any age can be fair game, including pups. Adult males are 300 to 400 pounds in weight and at 7 feet in length while adult females tend to be 400 to 600 pounds and at 8 feet in length. Pups average at 30 to 40 pounds at birth and at 40 inches in length. Life expectancies are from 25 to 30 years.

[edit] Endangered Species

Hawaiian Monk Seals are one of the most endangered species of all seals, although its cousin species the Mediterranean Monk Seal (M. monachus) is even rarer, and the Caribbean Monk Seal (M. tropicalis) became extinct in the 1950s. The population of monk seals continues to decline and, in 2008, it is estimated that there are only 1,200 individuals remaining.[1] The Hawaiian Monk Seal was officially designated as an endangered species on November 23, 1976 and is now protected by the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is illegal to kill, capture or harass a Hawaiian Monk Seal.

Monk seal species have shown alarming population declines in recent years due to the rapid spread of human activity to even the most remote and isolated areas in the Hawaiian Islands. In the nineteenth century, Hawaiian Monk Seals were clubbed to death by whalers and sealers for their meat, oil and their skin.[2] They were also hunted during World War II when the US forces occupied Laysan Island and Midway.[2] Death from predation by sharks, reduced pup survival as the result of human disturbances, ciguatera poisoning, high male to female ratios during the breeding season, and entanglement in fishing nets and debris all have led to the species' decline. These threats have taken a toll on the species, as it has been eradicated from part of its former range, including Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii.[3] It is currently only found on Laysan, Midway, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, French Frigate Shoals, and Lisianski.[3]

Considerable current research is being conducted on this species, including research conducted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in conjunction with the Marine Mammal Center. These efforts are directed at the enhancement of population as well as health issues of this species.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Captive Care and Release Research Project Seeks to Aid Recovery of the Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal
  2. ^ a b Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perrenial, 194. ISBN 0-06-055804-0. 
  3. ^ a b Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perrenial, 195. ISBN 0-06-055804-0. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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