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Researchers note that a Hawaiian monk seal from Kure Atoll, the island at the northernmost point of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, swam 1,300 miles to Oahu in about a month.
Monk seal KG54, a six-year-old female seal, managed to swim and retrieved it last Wednesday at Kaena Point State Park on the north coast of Oahu, according to the State Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Researchers are aware that the seals travel between the main northwestern and main Hawaiian islands, but said the journeys typically take several years.
A 2015 study that looked at seal movements over a 30-year period found that pinnipeds moved mainly between neighboring islands, but not over long distances, according to Dr. Michelle Barbieri, program director of NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program.
Travel of up to about 250 miles between islands by the seals is more common.
“We have data showing that at least 10 seals made at least 14 different trips between the main Hawaiian Islands, the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the Johnston Atoll between 1981 and 2011, and there have been several more since then,” said Barbieri in a press release. “The amazing thing about KG54 is that it took about a month or so while other seals were more likely to make it over several years.”
Lesley Macpherson, an interpreter at Kaena Point State Park, said she could tell from her gray instead of red pinball label that KG54 was not a mainland seal. The fact that KG54 swam “so far, so fast, all alone” is amazing, she said, and she was called Huaka’i, which means traveler, journey, or path taken.
While she was resting on the bank, she was accompanied by other monk seals.
Researchers believe KG54 left Kure around mid-August but don’t know her molting status or the exact reason for her thinner appearance, Barbieri said
Monk seals go through a “catastrophic molting” process about once a year, during which the top layer of their skin and fur is shed to get rid of algae, which are replaced with new, silvery fur. The process can take a week or two while the seal is resting on land, according to NOAA, and usually results in weight loss.
“It seems reasonable that she put a lot of energy into getting to Oahu,” said Barbieri. “However, some seals from the northwest Hawaiian Islands may be thinner than those born on the main islands, so this is likely a combination of both factors.”
With only about 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals left in the wild, the critically endangered species are protected by federal and state laws. Monk seal sightings can be reported to the NOAA hotline at 888-256-9840.
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