 |
Nickname: Ilio-holo-kai or "dog of the sea"
Natural Distribution: Hawaiian monk seals are mainly found in the isolated Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a broad strip of coral islands, atolls and coral reefs extending more than 1,000 miles northwest of the main Hawaiian island chain. This remote, diverse and precarious ecosystem is the only known breeding area for this critically endangered species.
Size: 7 feet
Weight: 400 to 600 lbs
Diet: 12 to 15 pounds of fish daily
Status: Endangered species since 1976. Their current wild population is estimated at 1,300 to 1,400 animals, a decline of nearly 60 percent since the late 1950s. Although their home is remote and pristine, large amounts of debris are carried into the area on ocean currents. Shipping accidents, commercial fishing, shark predation, and tourism are threats to the area ecosystem as well.
What the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks are doing: SeaWorld San Antonio has been home to a small colony of endangered Hawaiian monk seals since 1999, when the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requested a home for the animals. The all-female population was part of a study at the Kewalo Research Facility in Hawaii. In 2000 and 2001, a team of researchers from the NMFS and Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute conducted field studies to gather baseline data on the population. One of their tasks was to study their foraging behavior and determine where and what they eat. The SeaWorld colony provides regular data on their diet, weight gain, physical needs, growth rates and eating patterns. Much remains to be discovered about this isolated Hawaiian species.
|
