Hawaiian Monk Seal — Kenyon AND Rice 
northern phocids and sea lions {Eumetopias 
and Zalophus) which, in areas disturbed by 
man, quickly learn to avoid him. 
Although adult monk seals resting singly 
on a beach can be easily approached, a large 
group usually takes to the water. Seals that 
awaken bump others as they begin to move 
and the result is a general alarm ending in a 
stampede. Yearlings, however, are not easily 
aroused and even after adults around them 
have made a hurried departure, these young 
animals may be left sleeping or languidly eye- 
ing the intruder. Adults, if not disturbed, may 
quickly become accustomed to human pres- 
ence. For six hours, four seals basked near us 
while we were working on a dead specimen. 
When we first arrived, these animals displayed 
mild alarm; before we departed, they ignored 
us even when we walked within 3 or 4 feet of 
them. Although seals are often poked at with 
sticks by people walking Midway’s beaches 
and are sometimes annoyed by dogs, they 
remain surprisingly unwary. However, it may 
be significant that seals are found less fre- 
quently on the beaches most used by people. 
Seals only occasionally now haul out on the 
beaches of Sand Island where a large human 
population has been present for several years. 
They are regularly found on Eastern Island, 
and two pups were born there in 1957. Only 
about a dozen men occupy this island. We 
found that anyone who found a seal on a 
beach invariably drove it into the water. How- 
ever, the Navy protects the seals from actual 
physical violence. By far the greatest number 
of seals haul out on the small islets and sand- 
spits between Sand and Eastern islands. 
Threat Display 
Although a mother with a pup will charge 
with open mouth and bellow at human ap- 
proach, the aggressive behavior is primarily 
a threat display rather than an attack. We 
failed to hold our ground in the face of such 
charges until a bite was possible. Generally, 
we have found it difficult to induce a charging 
233 
seal to grasp a stick held near its mouth. In 
one instance, however, our field notes in a 
manila folder were snatched from our hands, 
shaken violently and tossed aside by a mother 
seal defending her pup. This defense behav- 
ior is in marked contrast to that of northern 
fur seals. When a stick is presented to one of 
these animals under similar circumstances, it 
is invariably seized with the teeth. A man who 
failed to escape in the face of such a charge 
was severely bitten (Kenyon, 1957). 
The threat display is also exhibited under- 
water. On July 20, 1957, while skin diving 
just inside the southwest reef at Midway, 
Richard T. Takahashi and the junior author 
cornered an adult female seal in a small deep 
hole about 10 by 15 feet, surrounded by high 
coral formations on three sides. After milling 
about in the hole for a minute or two, the 
seal started past us towards deeper water. We 
swam over to block her escape; we were at a 
depth of about 5 feet. When we got within 
6 feet of the seal, on a course convergent with 
hers, she turned and came directly towards us 
with her mouth open in typical threat display. 
Her head was raised slightly above the axis of 
her body. When she was a yard from us, she 
swerved and made a break for the deeper wa- 
ter. She made no audible sounds underwater. 
Play 
On several occasions, adult seals pulled 
themselves on to sandbars covered by less 
than a foot of water. Here they would roll 
from one side to the other, waving their 
flippers in the air, apparently in play. 
A two-month-old pup, after we awakened 
it at the water’s edge on Eastern Island, 
romped and rolled in the shallow water near 
the beach ; then as we walked along the shore, 
it followed along beside us for about a quarter 
of a mile. Frequently it raised its head to 
watch us, then returned to its frolicking. 
After about 10-15 minutes, it returned to the 
place of its birth on Dynamite Island, hauled 
out and went to sleep. 
