Hawaiian Monk Seal — Kenyon and Rice 
described above, he was threatened but not 
driven away. Before approaching the female, 
the male uttered several rolling bellows, some- 
times ending in a snort. Repeatedly, the male 
nosed the abdominal region of the female, 
which caused her to threaten, and the male 
repeated the rolling bellow, He then lay with 
his head near her abdomen and his body at 
right angles to hers. 
Pairs of animals in the position described 
above, were frequently seen lying dormant 
for long periods on the beaches. Occasion- 
ally, the male would sniff and nip at the 
female’s genital and abdominal region. If, as 
frequently happened, this caused the female 
to attempt escape, the male attempted to stop 
her by following closely and gently biting at 
her abdominal region. An occasional hard nip 
precipitated bluffing bouts. If the female en- 
tered the water the male pursued her. The 
male sometimes chased the female quite rap- 
idly, swimming high in the water with head 
raised and leaving a conspicuous wake. Dur- 
ing such a chase, the male might utter cough- 
ing snorts repeatedly. In the water, the female 
sometimes put on a display wherein she beat 
the water with her flippers. On one occasion, 
a female lay on her side in very shallow water 
waving her hind flippers in the air and beating 
up a spray. She later beat the water with a fore- 
flipper. The male, in the meantime, was be- 
side her, facing her, uttering coughing snorts. 
On another occasion, a male was seen in the 
water beside a female; she rolled on her side 
and thrashed the water with a foreflipper. Tnis 
was followed by both animals rearing up, 
facing each other and bluffing with open- 
mouthed threat displays. Finally, the female 
turned and swam away, the male following, 
both swimming with head and shoulders high 
in the water. On June 5, a female drove a 
courting male from her vicinity (Fig. 8) . 
No marked hostility between males was 
observed during the breeding season. Males 
which are with females seem to pay little 
attention to other seals as long as they do not 
approach closely. On March 27 we landed on 
235 
Fig. 8a. A courting male frolicked about a reluctant 
female. 
a small sandspit where 17 seals, including a 
courting pair, were hauled out. All of the 
seals entered the water, the pair remaining 
together. While they were in the water, a 
third seal attempted to follow the female, but 
the male threatened him with raised head and 
open jaws, uttering coughing snorts. When 
we left the sandspit, the pair immediately 
hauled out, the male appearing to guide the 
female onto the sand as he remained close to 
her. The third seal attempted to haul out at 
the same place but was again repulsed and 
moved to another area. This animal made 
no hostile display. 
On two occasions when we approached 
pairs of seals, whose sex was positively iden- 
tified, the male took to the water; but when 
we prevented the female from leaving, the 
male hauled out again, giving threat display 
Fig. 8b. The female threatened the male, bellowing 
and charging with open mouth. The male quickly left 
the vicinity. Kure Atoll, June 5, 1957 (KWK 57-18-2 
and 3). 
