Hawaiian Monk Seal Updates

Monk Seal Pup RL36 Found Deceased on O'ahu

November 20, 2019

   

Top: RL36 sleeping on the beach as a weaned pup. Left: RL36 as a newborn with mom R5AY. Right: RL36 playing in the shallows at his birth beach. Photo credit: HMAR.

We are saddened to report that recently-weaned male Hawaiian monk seal RL36, also known as Makoa, was found dead on the north shore of Oʻahu on the morning of November 9, 2019. We were unable to identify a definitive cause of death from examination and initial necropsy results.  Tissue samples will be examined further to look for causes of death that could not be detected during the necropsy, and we will provide an update once we receive the results. RL36 was born to well-known seal R5AY (a.k.a. Honey Girl) and was given his nickname, which means fearless or brave, by local elementary school children.  

Despite Best Efforts to Save Her, a Moloka'i-Born Pup has Passed Away

November 15, 2019

   

Top: RL76 just before weaning from her mom. Left: RL76 as a nursing pup with her mother RV06. Right: RL76 sleeping in a tidepool with a freshly applied hair bleach number (L30) on her side.

Recently weaned female monk seal pup, RL76, passed away on August 3, 2019, due to severe injuries she sustained in the wild. Based on the location where she was found, the nature of the injuries, and the results of veterinary examination and necropsy, the cause of death was determined to be trauma, which was most likely sustained from interactions with another seal. Although less common in the main Hawaiian Islands, adult male aggression towards female and immature seals is a well-documented occurrence in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. While we cannot definitively rule out other sources of trauma, there is nothing at this time that leads us to suspect human involvement in this incident.  Before she died, RL76 was transported to The Marine Mammal Center's hospital in Kona, Hawaiʻi Island, for treatment, but her injuries proved too severe to overcome.

RL76 was born between May 10-14, 2019, at Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi. On July 22, partners from the National Park Service noticed that she had swelling around her head and face, was breathing abnormally, and was staying close to shore in shallow water (a sign that a seal may be in too much pain to swim). The following day, a small team of NOAA Fisheries and The Marine Mammal Center staff were dispatched to Molokaʻi to capture the seal and bring her to Kona for rehabilitation at Ke Kai Ola. The US Coast Guard assisted in transport and, although they had to divert to another island to respond to a person in need of aide, were still able to get RL76 to the Center’s hospital, Ke Kai Ola, the morning of July 24. Despite the very best efforts made by the veterinary and animal care team at Ke Kai Ola, RL76 passed away the following week as a result of her injuries. NOAA is grateful to the National Park Service, The Marine Mammal Center, and the US Coast Guard for doing everything possible to try to save RL76. While we may not have been successful this time, there are many seals that are alive today thanks to these and other wonderful partners working hard to conserve Hawaiʻi's native seal.

Death of Juvenile Monk Seal on O'ahu

October 2019

RK88 snoozing on a coral rubble beach. Photo courtesy of Hawai'i Marine Animal Response.

NOAA Fisheries is saddened to report the death of yearling male Hawaiian monk seal, RK88, also known as "Kuokala." He was found dead at Camp Erdman, Ka'ena Point on the afternoon of August 21, 2019. Necropsy and histopathology results support drowning in a lay gillnet as the cause of death. RK88's nutritional condition was being closely monitored earlier in the year, but he was sighted regularly in the weeks prior to his death in good body condition. Post-mortem test results confirmed that RK88 was healthy at the time of death and there was no evidence of underlying disease or other health concerns. NOAA encourages the public to follow the Fishing Around Seals and Turtles guidelines. Report illegal gillnets to the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources hotline at (808) 643-DLNR (3567).

Monk Seal Moms Reach Major Maternal Milestones

August 2019

NOAA researchers at our Northwestern Hawaiian Islands field camps discovered two exciting monk seal pupping events in 2019. Both were on Lisianski Island.

Twin Pups?

When the monk seal field team landed on Lisianski in late May 2019, they discovered 14-year-old mom GV18, in her reproductive prime, with two pups! Could they be twins?  

We know that monk seal moms occasionally adopt a second pup, but this usually lasts for only a short period of time because either the mother or the larger pup will drive the adopted pup away. In this case, no other seal mothers were missing a pup and GV18’s two pups were similarly sized, suggesting they were twins. GV18 nursed both pups together and weaned them at a slightly smaller than normal size about a week after being encountered.

Mom (GV18) with likely twin pups. Photo: USFWS/Pete Leary.

A previous review of nearly 5,000 monk seal births over 26 years (1983–2008) revealed only seven sets of twin pups. Thus, monk seal twinning is exceptionally rare, occurring in only 0.1 percent of all births! DNA analysis on those twin pups confirmed they were all fraternal twins, not identical. 

This year’s “twins” are not identical, either, as one pup is a girl and the other a boy. When we tag weaned pups, we also collect “snips” of tissue that hold the key to each seal’s genetic makeup. We will have to wait for DNA results on these snips to confirm if the Lisianski pups are indeed twins, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we have discovered another rare case of twin monk seal pups.

Super Mom

TG28 with her 16th pup (2017).

It was with great excitement that the Lisianski field team reported monk seal TG28 gave birth to a pup this year. At 29 years old, TG28 is one of the oldest moms and is now an official member of the very exclusive Super Senior Monk Seal Momma Club!  Club members must be a minimum of 29 years old when they have a pup, and to date there are only four club members. The oldest mom is 30 years old and the remaining three members are 29 year old. These celebrated moms are giving birth up through their last years. The oldest female monk seal on record is 32 years old and only two females survived to this age.

Born on Laysan Island in 1990, TG28 is a very special lady, having begun her pupping career as an 8-year-old. For reference, the youngest mom in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is 5 years old, though only a handful of 5-year-olds have pupped. TG28 was a homebody most of her life, but in 2015, at age 25, she packed up and moved over to nearby Lisianski. 

TG28 is also a member of the equally exclusive Most Productive Mom Club. The record number of pups for a single mother is 18, a record held by just one mom.Two other moms are tied with TG28 at 17 pups each. We are hoping to find TG28 next year with a new pup—tying the records for both oldest mom and mom with the most pups.

TG28 with her 16th pup (2017).

Follow our monk seal researchers’ journey in the 2019 field camp story map.

Independence Day for a Hawaiian Monk Seal!

On June 23, 2019, a conscientious fisherman reported to NOAA that he hooked a seal. Volunteers and staff with Hawaiʻi Marine Animal Response and Kaʻena Point State Park located the seal after nearly two weeks of searching, and NOAA staff subsequently captured the adult seal this past Independence Day weekend and brought him in for care. NOAA Fisheries Hawaiian Monk Seal Program veterinarians successfully removed a hook, line, and sinker from the stomach of the seal using endoscope technology. After observing and treating the seal at the NOAA facility on Ford Island, NOAA released the seal at Mokulēʻia Beach, Oʻahu over the weekend. NOAA Fisheries is looking forward to working with the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources and the fishing community to develop a comprehensive plan to prevent future monk seal hookings.

      

Left: Veterinarian Dr. Gregg Leving is performing an endoscopic procedure and looking through the monitor screen searching for the fishing hook, link and sinker in the seal’s stomach. Right: The fishing hook, line, and sinker that was removed from RW02.

Deceased Monk Seal Pup at Baby Makapuu

On Saturday, April 20, 2019, NOAA Fisheries staff and responders with Hawaii Marine Animal Response recovered the carcass of a days-old, male Hawaiian monk seal pup at Baby Makapuu tide pools, in Waimanalo, and transported it to the NOAA Inouye Regional Center facility. We do not currently know the identity of the pup's mother.  We will conduct a postmortem examination on April 29, 2019, in an effort to determine a cause of death, and we will provide updates as they become available. 

Sad News About RI37

Adult female Hawaiian monk seal found dead.

March 14, 2019

Since the initial update regarding the death of RI37/Ipo, NOAA Fisheries has been pursuing additional analyses to help discern the cause of her death and would like to share what we have learned. Substantial decomposition made it difficult to come to a definitive conclusion, but we were able to rule out many potential causes of mortality.

There was no evidence of toxoplasmosis or leptospirosis. Given all the information we were able to gather, we believe it is most likely that the death was caused by a traumatic injury. It is important to note that we do not have enough information to speculate as to the type of injury, and we cannot rule out natural vs. human-caused, so we are not treating this as a suspicious incident at this time. Our findings suggest that the injury was fairly recent, but did not cause immediate mortality, and we do not believe the injury occurred in the location of the stranding. There was no evidence of head trauma, no external scrapes/cuts/bruises, and we did not identify any broken bones; however, it is possible that blunt trauma caused injury to the soft tissues.

February 8, 2019

We are saddened to report that adult female Hawaiian monk seal RI37 (born to the well known seal R5AY, or "Honey Girl") was found dead on the west side of Oahu on the morning of February 5, 2019. The initial examination and necropsy did not reveal a definitive cause of death, primarily due to decomposition. RI37 was in excellent nutritional condition and was not pregnant at the time of death. Tissue samples will be examined further to look for causes of death that could not be detected during the necropsy.

Eels in Seals, a Slippery Situation

How does an eel end up in the nose of a seal?

December 5, 2018

A juvenile Hawaiian monk seal was found with a spotted eel in its nose at French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands this past summer (Photo: NOAA Fisheries/Brittany Dolan).

In the nearly 40 years that we have been working to monitor and protect endangered Hawaiian monk seals, we have only started seeing "eels in noses" in the last few years. Yet, our researchers have observed this phenomenon three or four times now. We don't know if this is just some strange statistical anomaly or if we will see more eels in seals in the future.

Hawaiian monk seals forage by shoving their mouth and nose into the crevasses of coral reefs, under rocks, or into the sand. They are looking for prey that likes to hide, like eels. This may be a case of an eel that was cornered trying to defend itself or escape. Alternatively, the seal could have swallowed the eel and regurgitated it so that the eel came out the wrong way. We might never know.

All of the seals that we have encountered in this slippery situation have been quickly caught by our response teams and the eel gently and successfully removed. The seals were released and haven't shown any issues from the incidents.

It's A Record Year For Pups in the Main Hawaiian Islands!

A record number of pups were born in the main Hawaiian Islands in 2018, be sure to enjoy observing them from a respectful distance.

November 2, 2018

So far in 2018, 30 pups have been born in the main Hawaiian Islands, soundly beating the previous record of 21 pups in 2013. Eight of this year’s pups were born to first time moms, including our most recent pup born to new mom R8HE in Maui Nui (Maui County). We know some folks get really excited about new seal pups and want to go see them in person - we do too!  But too many visitors can unintentionally disrupt resting and nursing. That’s why we usually refrain from publicizing specific pup locations and we ask that you do the same. By not specifying pup locations in our social media posts, we can help keep disturbance to a minimum.

If you come across a Hawaiian monk seal mom and pup, please stay quiet and enjoy them from a distance, remaining behind any signs or barriers that might be present.  If no sign or volunteer is present, please call it in to our hotline at (888) 256-9840.

   

Mom RK13 and female pup (now tagged as RK42) at Mahaulepu Beach in April 2018.

RN18 (first time mom) with RKC1 (Sole) at seven days old in Kalaupapa, Hawaii. 

Rocky's Pupdate From Kauai

Hawaiian monk seal "Rocky" (RH58) arrived on a remote beach on Kauai on Saturday, July 14. On Monday morning, July 16, she was observed with a new pup. Watch the video.

July 14, 2018

Hawaiian monk seal "Rocky" (RH58) arrived on a remote beach on Kauai on Saturday, July 14. On Monday morning, July 16, she was observed with a new pup. Rocky and the pup both appear to be doing well. We have not determined if the pup is male or female at this time.

All photos and videos taken with a NMFS research permit.