Hawaiian Monk Seal and Threats
Hawaiian Monk Seals face a new threat from a pathogen in cat feces that is carried to the ocean in polluted runoff and sewage. Experts worry that the disease, toxoplasmosis, will derail efforts to restore this endangered species. Over the past ten years, the cat parasite has killed at least four monk seals in the main Hawaiian islands – two from Kauai, one from Oahu, one from Molokai, and perhaps more. In the past decade, toxoplasmosis has been regularly found in a wide range of marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, as well as seabirds, and the endangered Hawaiian crow.
No studies have been done in Hawaii, but in California, researchers have found that it infects sea otters mainly though runoff from urban areas. Flushing cat litter down the toilet is one pathway, since sewage treatment does not always kill the parasite’s hardy eggs, called oocysts. Studies have found that oocysts can live for at least two years in sea water.
Although domestic cats are considered the main source, feral cats in remote areas also transmit the disease. Nearly 40 percent of cats captured from the slopes of Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii, tested positive for toxoplasmosis. The state Division of Forestry and Wildlife estimates that 300,000 to 400,000 free-ranging cats live on Maui alone.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi) is considered the most endangered pinniped in the United States. Their overall population is declining at a rate of about 4.5 percent a year. The good news is that in recent years, their numbers have been growing in the main Hawaiian islands. With only about 1,100 monk seals left in the wild, each death is very concerning, and now toxoplasmosis is one of the primary concerns. To raise public awareness about toxoplasmosis and cat feces, NOAA has begun talking with the Hawaii Humane Society, various interest groups, and the health department.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Track
Hawaiian Monk Seals have been fitted with small transmitters glued on their back to help scientists understand their behavior in the main Hawaiian islands. For the seals’ health and safety, it must be hauled out in a sandy spot safe for restraint. The seal cannot be young, pregnant, nursing, molting, or otherwise already stressed.
Once attached, these devices reveal their movements, how deep they dive, when they haul out on land, and how far they roam. The seals are monitored remotely until the transmitters are shed when seals molt. One seal, known as RO18, often travels back and forth between Oahu, Niihau, and Kauai where he has been spending time with an adult female (RK13). This video tracks his movements.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Recognition
National Wildlife Federation and American Girl are partnering to help raise awareness of endangered animals like the Hawaiian Monk Seal. Kanani Akina
American Girl encourages girls to dream, to grow, to aspire, to create, and to imagine through a wide range of engaging and insightful books. Through Kanani, girls will discover that everyone has something to share to make life better for other people and also wildlife. Kanani is a beautiful 18-inch doll featuring long, wavy medium-brown hair and hazel eyes, and an array of outfits, and accessories like a paddleboard set, a plush Hawaiian monk seal, a shave ice stand, and two books that tell her story.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal is one of the world’s most endangered species, with a current population of around 1,100 seals living solely in Hawaiian waters. With the purchase of every plush monk seal sold in 2011, American Girl is donating $1 (up to a maximum of $100,000) to NWF’s wildlife education programs. “There has never been an opportunity anywhere near this scale to develop widespread name recognition for this animal, and that can lead to awareness, knowledge and stewardship,” said the Kaua‘i Monk Seal Watch Program.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Privilege
The Hawaiian Monk Seal has lived in the waters and reefs of the Hawaiian Islands for the past thirteen million years. But currently, it is a privilege to see one, because it is the most endangered marine mammals in the world. Over the last 50 years, the Hawaiian Monk Seal population has declined by more than 60% and is now at its lowest level in recorded history. Fewer than 1100 Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) remain in the wild.
Most Hawaiian Monk Seals can be found around the Northwest Hawaiian Islands in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, but a growing number now live in the main Hawaiian Islands. Their Hawaiian name is Ilio-holo-ikauaua (meaning dog that runs in the sea, and pronounced ee-lee-o holo ee ka ooa-ooa). They spend a majority of their lives at sea, but come to shore to give birth, molt, and to find shelter from large storms.
They mature at around five and ten years of age and can live for twenty-five to thirty years. But, survival rates of monk seal pups have dropped dramatically, and as the older breeding females begin to pass away, there are fewer younger animals maturing. It is up to us to do everything we can to help these seals that are found nowhere else on earth recover to viable numbers.
- Do not disturb, feed, pursue, encourage, or otherwise approach seals.
- Seals need undisturbed rest on land – it is critical for their survival.
- Remain out of sight, if possible.
- Keep at least 100 feet away, or more if encountering a mother and pup.
- Although monk seals may approach people, always move away to avoid interaction.
- Keep dogs away from seals.
- Contact with humans or dogs may transmit diseases.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Feeding
Hawaiian Monk Seals measure about seven feet in length and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. While at their breeding islands, they feed on bottom and reef fish, octopus, eel, and spiny lobsters found in relatively shallow waters close to shore. Scientists believe that monk seals travel many miles at sea and therefore must be able to find food in the open ocean as well as in the shallow lagoon surrounding their breeding beaches. This makes the Hawaiian name – ilio-holo-kai (the dog that runs in the sea) all the more fitting.
Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) have been known to dive deep to feed and can stay underwater for up to 20 minutes. Like all pinnipeds, they have developed a very efficient means of using oxygen, allowing them to remain submerged for long periods of time without suffering from oxygen deprivation. Adult seals have the ability to slow their heart rate to around ten beats per minute while diving, as compared to a rate of 75 to 100 beats per minute under normal surface conditions. This phenomenon, known as bradycardia, reduces the seal’s need for oxygen and conserves it for the vital functions of the heart and brain.
The Hawaiian monk seal was designated as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1976, and the population is currently estimated at 60% of the population documented in the late 1950s. As a result, researchers have turned to technology to get the answers they need. Monk seals have been fitted with small satellite transmitters and critter cams to track their movements and see where they are diving.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Support
The Hawaiian Monk Seal has been in existence for more than 13 million years, but in 1976 it was listed as an endangered species. Currently, a newborn monk seal has only a twenty percent chance of surviving to adulthood. With the Hawaiian Monk Seal population dwindling from sickness, injury, entanglement in ocean trash, or premature weaning by their mothers, they could benefit from medical facilities. Each and every monk seal counts and a hospital for monk seals would allow Hawaii to return some of these sick animals back to the ocean.
The Marine Mammal Center and the Hawaii Wildlife Fund have joined forces to raise $2 million to build a Hawaiian Monk Seal healthcare facility in Kona, on the Big Island. For the last decade, The Marine Mammal Center has worked closely with government agencies and other nonprofits to provide medical assistance to monk seals, often flying out teams of its veterinarians, veterinary technicians and trained volunteers to provide hands-on medical care in temporary and make-shift facilities in Hawaii.
On Saturday, September 4, 2010, Team Hawaiian Monk Seal from The Marine Mammal Center will compete in the Maui Channel Swim to support the Center’s efforts to raise funds to build a hospital for monk seals. The swimmers will join 52 teams and 20 solo swimmers from around the world in a daring crossing of the Au Au channel (from the beach at Lanai to Black Rock on the shores of Kaanapali). Support the team as they race 10 miles to protect this fragile species.
More monk seals are dying each year than are being born… every seal matters.
