Young Monk Seals at Play

Over on Midway Atoll, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a captive feeding program for young female monk seals. Hawaiian Monk Seals are an endangered species, and are one of the rarest of all seals in the world. This feeding program is an attempt to try and increase the survival rate of the females.

As you can see, the seals are quite curious and playful. In this video, one seal has found a small knot of green rope to play with.

This curiosity and playfulness can, however, get them into trouble. Many young seals have been found tangled in cargo netting, fishing nets, and other artificial ocean debris. The bright colors and interesting movement of this debris is apparently attractive to them. The animals that get tangled are often killed by it or at least hindered in movement by the debris to a point that may hurt their very survival. Thankfully for these little seals, those sorts of hazards are not present here in their captivity.

This group of female seals were released in April. We can only hope they survive the perils of the ocean and bring us more little pups in the future.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• monk
• seals
• endangered
• hawaii
• hawaiian
• midway