Monachus schauinslandi (Phocidae)

An adult monk seal is usually dark gray or brown with a light gray or yellow belly. Adults can weigh anywhere from 375 to 500 pounds; adult females are generally larger than males. Pups are jet black and usually weigh 25 to 30 pounds at birth and weigh up to 132 to 198 pounds within five to six weeks. The monk seal's common name is derived from its folds of skin that look like a monk's hood, and because it spends most of its time alone or in very small groups.  Monachus schauinslandi is native to the Hawaiian Archipelago (endemic). 

Species description or overview

Taxonomy & nomenclature

Federal endangered/threatened status

New habitat protections proposed for endangered Hawaiian monk seals   
The federal government's proposal to designate more than 11,000 square miles of critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals is summarized by the Center for Biological Diversity (6/2011).

NOAA proposes expanding monk seal critical habitat   
Expanding critical habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal to include parts of the main Hawaiian Islands is proposed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Hawaii News Now, 6/2/2011).

Threats to this species

Recovery & restoration

NOAA proposes expanding monk seal critical habitat
Expanding critical habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal to include parts of the main Hawaiian Islands is proposed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Hawaii News Now, 6/2/2011).

Legislation/regulation

Books

Natural history of Nihoa and Necker Islands (citation)
The Nihoa and Necker Islands Biological Survey Handbook citation, list of taxa covered in this Bishop Museum publication, and link to purchase information are on the HEAR bibliography site.

In the news

New habitat protections proposed for endangered Hawaiian monk seals
The federal government's proposal to designate more than 11,000 square miles of critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals is summarized by the Center for Biological Diversity (6/2011).

Vision keeps monk seal in captivity
KP2, the first Hawaiian monk seal pup reared by humans from birth, and who was found "playing rough" with people on Molokai, has lost his sight and will not be re-released into the wild (Honolulu Star Bulletin, 10/20/2009).

Full-text articles

Some documents posted on the HEAR website are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. If your computer is not already set up to read these files, you can download the FREE Adobe Acrobat reader. You can set up most web browsers to automatically invoke this reader (as a "helper application" or "add-in") upon encountering documents of this type (refer to your browser's documentation for how to do this).

The Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) project is currently funded by the Pacific Basin Information Node (PBIN) of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) through PIERC (USGS) with support from HCSU (UH Hilo). More details are available online.

The content of this page is based on information last generated on 15 September 2011 by PT. The template for this page was created on 15 March 2004 by EMS, and was last updated on 20 February 2006 by PT.