The Hawaiian Monk Seal like other Phocids has an interesting reproductive strategy. Mother monk seals fast while lactating. They build up fat reserves before they return to the breeding site and use their stored energy to nurse their pups. At the beginning of the nursing period, moms are huge and as the pup is getting bigger moms are getting thinner. Mother monk seals remain with their pups only for five or six weeks.

A few days ago, Gabi and I spent some time with Honey Girl and her pup on the North Shore of Oahu. The young monk seal has finally got a name too: Ola Loa that will hopefully be prophetic. It means “Long Life”. Ola Loa is now a big girl. She has packed on lots of weight since we saw her a week ago and she has started turning gray. She must build up a fat store, because in the next few days, Honey Girl will probably abandon her and return to the sea to refill her own reserves and Ola Loa has to be able to care herself. Until she is not ready to forage she will consume her own fat. It takes some weeks then she leaves the beach and starts to live a life of a real monk seal.

Gear: Canon EOS 7D, Canon 300mm F/4 lens, tripod