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Friday, April 5, 2024

Sleeping ones

We feel very fortunate to have encountered several ‘īlio holo i ka uaua, or Hawaiian Monk Seals (Neomonachus schauinslandi) during the past week.  The first ones on O’ahu were a mother with a 1-week-old pup!

Nearby we watched another monk seal coming ashore (that’s a golden plover on the nearby rock):


Monk seals spend a lot of time sleeping on beaches:


And it was fun to see them rolling in the sand:


Sometimes you could see some greenish coloration around their mouths, which I’ve read is algae growing on their fur:


All photos taken from a distance with a long lens and then heavily cropped.

1 comment:

Leora R Feeney said...

Thank you for sharing your trip with us...Big thank you!