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.