Contingency Plan for Hawaiian Monk Seal Unusual Mortality Events
Contingency Plan for Hawaiian Monk Seal Unusual Mortality Events
Contingency Plan for Hawaiian Monk Seal Unusual Mortality Events
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2<br />
30N<br />
Kure Atoll<br />
Midway Atoll<br />
Pearl and Hermes Reef<br />
Lisianski I.<br />
Laysan I.<br />
25N<br />
French Frigate Shoals<br />
Necker I.<br />
Nihoa I.<br />
20N<br />
Northwestern <strong>Hawaiian</strong> Islands<br />
Main <strong>Hawaiian</strong> Islands<br />
Johnston Atoll<br />
15N<br />
180° 175W 170W 165W 160W 155W<br />
Fig. 1. The <strong>Hawaiian</strong> Archipelago, with the six main monk seal breeding and pupping<br />
sites identified (French Frigate Shoals, Laysan I., Lisianski I., Pearl and Hermes Reef,<br />
Midway Atoll, Kure Atoll).<br />
Females give birth on beaches with adjoining shallow waters, which provide<br />
protection from sharks. Most pups are born between February and August, with a peak<br />
from late March to May (Johnson and Johnson, 1980; Johanos et al., 1994). Females give<br />
birth <strong>for</strong> the first time at ages 5 to 10, and typically 50%-70% of all adult-size females<br />
give birth each year (Johanos et al., 1994). Gestation is approximately 1 year, with a<br />
mean interval between births (<strong>for</strong> those females that pup in consecutive years) of 381<br />
days (Johanos et al., 1994). Females fast during the 5 or 6-week nursing period, and<br />
nursing pups are sometimes exchanged between females (Kenyon and Rice, 1959; Alcorn<br />
and Henderson, 1984; Boness, 1990; Gerrodette et al., 1992). Mating occurs 3 or 4 weeks<br />
after pups are weaned. Although mating takes place in the water and is rarely observed, a<br />
mating peak in May and June is inferred from the occurrence of fresh mounting injuries<br />
and association patterns of males and females (Johanos et al., 1994). Unlike other<br />
gregarious pinnipeds, monk seals are typically solitary and do not <strong>for</strong>m large, seasonal<br />
breeding aggregations. They have a serially monogamous social system with males<br />
<strong>for</strong>ming a dominance hierarchy.<br />
Pups are born with a black coat, which is shed gradually at the end of the nursing<br />
period and replaced by pelage that is silver gray on the dorsum and sides and beige on the<br />
venter. Juveniles and adults undergo a “catastrophic” annual molt, in which the epidermis