PHOTO COURTESY OF NOAA
The undersized monk seal pups rescued from Midway Atoll last week are getting acclimated to their 20-foot pool at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Kewalo Research Facility.
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Twin Hawaiian monk seal pups are settling in at Kewalo
The undersized Hawaiian monk seal pup twins rescued from Midway Atoll last week are doing well and have acclimated to their 20-foot pool at NOAA Fisheries Kewalo Research Facility.
Robert Braun, the marine mammal veterinarian overseeing the animals' care, said the 8-week-old sisters have settled into a daily routine similar to what it would be if they were in the wild.
They wake up barking about 5 a.m., and they get excited when they're given 10 inches of water to swim around in. From about 9:30 a.m. to noon, they're sleeping on the pool's deck. Then in the afternoon they're back in the water swimming, Braun said.
The facility is closed to the public because the seal pups are under quarantine.
The smaller of the twins, identified by the tag permanently attached to her flipper as R22, weighs 65 1/2 pounds. Her sister, R26, weighs 79 pounds. Their handlers have chosen not to name the pups so as not to get too attached to them.
"We know that these pups are much less than half the size that they should be if they were to make it on their own," Braun said. "And that's why we chose to intervene now."
The pups were born April 4 on Midway and weaned after nursing for 42 days. They are being fed fluids through a stomach tube. They've tasted but not yet eaten herring filet prepared for them. Braun hopes to get their weight up to at least 150 pounds before releasing them back on Midway. He estimates that could be in three months.
"We don't want to push these animals too hard too fast. They are in okay condition right now. They're not starving, they're not in trouble. So we want to work slowly toward that goal," Braun said.
Hawaiian monk seals normally give birth to just one pup per pregnancy. Researchers know of three other twin Hawaiian monk seal pups born in the past 30 years. The last set of twins were born on French Frigate Shoals in 2002. No pair has survived to weaning.
The Hawaiian monk seal was designated an endangered species in 1976. Its population is about 1,200, down 60 percent from the highest number of seals recorded in 1958. The population is declining about 4 percent a year and at that rate, it would dip below 1,000 in five years.
Even single pups have a low survival rate, with just one in three living to 2 years old. But Braun defends the decision to try to save the twins.
"If we don't do something to turn the decline around, we can just count them gone," he said.