Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) at Kure Atoll: Some Life History Effects Following Effort to Enhance Pup Survival

摘要

Counts of Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) were first conducted at Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) in the late 1950s (Kenyon & Rice, 1959; Rice, 1960). The highest of several monk seal beach counts (excluding pups) were 105 (1957) and 117 (1958) seals, and minimum pup births in these 2 y were 23 and 25. Kure Atoll is located at the northwest end of the Hawaiian Archipelago (Figure 1). The atoll contains one permanent island (Green Island) and three ephemeral islets.In 1960, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) began construction of a 20-person LORAN station on previously unoccupied Green Island. The facility continued in operation until it was dismantled in 1992. In the first thorough assessment of monk seal births at Kure Atoll, 32 pups were observed in 1964 and 30 pups in 1965 (Wirtz, 1968). All but one of these pups died or disappeared within 60 d of birth.