This past weekend, Kauai’s newest pups made two weeks of age. Both are progressing as expected–nursing and gaining weight, losing their fetal folds, taking longer swims, and exploring deeper water.
Interestingly, last year, these same two moms pupped on the same beach within a day of each other. This year, two days separated their delivery dates, again on the same beach. RH58 gave birth to PK2 on August 7th and RK28 gave birth to PK3 on August 9th.
(Note: pups are referred to as “PK” for “Pup Kauai” followed by their birth order for the year. Once pups are weaned, they are flipper-tagged and given their science name, which is really a number. For more on flipper-tagging, click here.)
In 2018, these same two moms also pupped on the same beach. Only this time, they were involved in an unusual series of “pup switches” that resulted in one pup being rejected and rehabilitated at Ke Kai Ola, the monk seal hospital on Hawaii Island. (For more information on that event, click here and here.)
This year, moms and pups are, thus far, keeping their distance from each other.
Here are a series of photos taken last week on Wednesday, August 19th. Can you identify them? Who is RH58? PK2? Who is RK28? PK3? (Hint: You can click on RH58 and RK28 in the sidebar on the right to examine previous photos of these two seals. Look for identifying markers–scars, natural bleach marks, etc.) Answers below.
Top row: RH58 and PK2 left. RK28 and PK3 right.
Middle row: RK28 and PK3 left. RH58 and PK2 right.
Bottom row: RH58 and PK2 left. RK28 and PK3 right.