The Hawaiian Monk Seal

Endangered:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

The Hawaiian Monk Seal

By Amy Pickett

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Endangered

3
Habitat

4
Solitary

5
Babies

6
Learning and Eating

8
Diving

9
Growth and Size

10
Sea Debris

12
Helping

13
References

15

Created with CAST's UDL Book Builder

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Endangered

The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world.

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Habitat

There are only about 1,100 monk seals left in their natural habitat . They are only found around the Hawaiian islands.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Created with CAST's UDL Book Builder

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Solitary

Monk Seals are solitary animals. They are shy, and like to live alone.

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Babies

These seals look a little bit like dogs in the water. In fact their babies are called pups .

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

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When a mother gives birth, she will have only one pup at a time. She will stay with her pup for five to six weeks. She will not even go get food for herself.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

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Learning and Eating

The mother teaches her pup to swim, hunt, and even hide from predators such as tiger sharks. As the pup grows, he will learn to catch fish, lobster, octopus, and other seafood.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

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Diving

The monk seal can go deep sea fishing too. They can dive down to over 1,000 feet deep but most of the time they don't go below 300-500 feet.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Created with CAST's UDL Book Builder

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Growth and Size

When a pup is full grown, he will be about seven feet long and weigh around 400 pounds. He naturally would live twenty-five to thirty years. Sadly, many seal pups are living no longer than two years. No one knows exactly why this is happening.

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The monk seal population is going down. Some people think it is due to the seals having less food in their habitat. Others believe the problem is people and sea debris moving into their habitats and this can hurt them.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

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Sea Debris

Sea or marine debris is a big problem. The debris can be made up of things like fishing hooks or giant fish nets that are left in the ocean. The debris can get tangled around the seals and it is very dangerous for them.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Created with CAST's UDL Book Builder

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Helping

We can help the monk seals by taking care of their environment. We can all come together and do little things like picking up our trash when we are by the ocean. When we do a beach clean-up or just clean-up after ourselves, we can make a world of difference to these animals' world and ours too.

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