• Home
  • About
  • Our Seals
  • Viewing Guidelines
  • Volunteer

Kaua'i Seals

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Monk Seal Monday #1
Monk Seal Monday #3 »

Monk Seal Monday #2

October 30, 2017 by Kim Steutermann Rogers

(V93-BrendaBecker)P1020470

PC: B. Becker

In September, two Hawaiian monk seals were outfitted with dive recording tags that not only capture the seals’ location but time spent hauled out, time at the surface of the sea, and time spent (and depth of ) diving. Data from the tags is transmitted whenever the seals come within range of a cell phone tower. The instruments tags were affixed to the middle of the seals’ backs using an epoxy. When the seals next molt, the tags will fall off.

This first graphic shows the movement of the two tagged seals. The yellowish-green dots represent R1KT, a male. The red dots represent R7AA, a female. The graphs give us a look into three week’s worth of these two seals’ lives.Slide1In the graph on the right, we see the depths of R7AA’s dives. She records several dives in excess of 150 meters, but the vast majority of her dives log at under 100 meters of depth.Slide2

On the other hand, the majority of R1KT’s dives record upwards of 150 meters. There are numerous factors that could explain the differences. One, age. R7AA is a juvenile; whereas, R1KT is older. Too, underwater topography may affect their dive depths. Generally, according to science, monk seals like to forage on or near the ocean floor. They are generalist feeders and their diet includes a variety of fishes (eels, wrasses, squirrelfish, soldierfish, triggerfish, parrotfish), cephalopods (octopus and squid), and crustaceans (crab, shrimp, and lobster). Diet studies indicate they prefer prey that hides in the sand or under rocks, unlike most of the locally popular game fish (e.g. ulua, papio and ʻoʻio) and the proportion and type of prey consumed varies significantly by island, year, age and sex. Slide3

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in R1KT, R7AA, Uncategorized | Tagged endangered species, field report, Hawaiian monk seal, marine mammal, monk seal, pinniped, science, seal | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on February 5, 2018 at 6:47 pm Monk Seal Monday #10: Dive Reflex | Kaua'i Seals

    […] recording tags on two monk seals that make their home in Kauai waters. We briefly wrote about it here. During one recording period, the two seals (R1KT and R7AA) both made numerous dives deeper than […]


  2. on December 16, 2019 at 9:21 pm Monk Seal Monday #80: Life and Times of R7AA | Kaua'i Seals

    […] wasn’t her first. In fact, she was likely hooked before, and for a time, she sported a dive tag on her back. However, she has an unfortunate knack to haul out in unusual–and sometimes […]



Comments are closed.

  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

  • Archives

    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • October 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • November 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • October 2014
    • May 2014
    • January 2014
    • August 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • September 2012
    • July 2012
    • April 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • November 2010
    • September 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
  • Categories

    • 3CU
    • 3CX
    • 6FA
    • 6FD/6FH
    • 7AU
    • G13
    • G28
    • K52/K53
    • K54/K55
    • K56/K57
    • Kaikoa/A00
    • Ke Kai Ola
    • KG54
    • KP2
    • Mahalo-eha/RA36
    • Momona/RA20
    • N1AA
    • NGOO
    • NH00
    • NL04
    • Noho/RA16
    • PK5
    • Pohaku/RO28
    • R00K
    • R012
    • R028
    • R1KD
    • R1KM
    • R1KT
    • R1KU
    • R1KY
    • R1N1
    • R1NS
    • R2XS
    • R2XW
    • R313
    • R316
    • R330
    • R332
    • R336
    • R339
    • R340
    • R347
    • R351
    • R353
    • R367
    • R371
    • R376
    • R3CD
    • R3CX
    • R400
    • R402
    • R406
    • R407
    • R4DD
    • R4DP
    • R4DW
    • R4KI
    • R5AY
    • R5EW
    • R6AP
    • R6AW
    • R6FM/6FN
    • R6FQ
    • R6FY
    • R7AA
    • R7GM
    • R8HD
    • R8HE
    • R8HP
    • R8HY
    • RB00
    • RB14
    • RB24/Haupu
    • RF22
    • RF28
    • RF30
    • RF58
    • RG13
    • RG22
    • RG28
    • RG58
    • RH38
    • RH58
    • RH80
    • RH92
    • RI15
    • RI37
    • RJ22
    • RJ28
    • RJ36
    • RK02
    • RK05
    • RK12
    • RK13
    • RK14
    • RK22
    • RK28
    • RK30
    • RK31
    • RK36 (4DI/4DJ)
    • RK42
    • RK58
    • RK90
    • RKA2
    • RKA4
    • RKA6
    • RL08
    • RL10
    • RL14
    • RL17
    • RL24
    • RL28
    • RL30
    • RL40
    • RL52
    • RL58
    • RM28
    • RM36
    • RM58
    • RN02
    • RN30
    • RN44
    • RO18
    • RP20
    • RP28
    • RP32
    • RT12
    • RV18
    • RW02
    • RW22
    • T319
    • T320
    • Temp 325
    • Temp 337
    • Temp 365
    • Temp361
    • Temp606
    • temp607
    • TT40
    • Uncategorized
    • V15
    • V17
    • V2
    • V23
    • V28
    • V76
    • YF95/R8HD

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Kaua'i Seals
    • Join 3,307 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Kaua'i Seals
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: