Blue Planet Journey

Caroline observing 2 Hawaiian monk seals at Poipu Beach, Kauai. I am not a Hawaiian monk seal biologist.  I am interested in monk seals , I discuss monk seals in my wildlife course, and I may have even sent in a written comment on a draft monk seal management plan.  Daughter Katelin probably knows more about monk seals than I do, as evidenced by her publication : In 2016, the Hawaiian monk seal population was estimated to be 1427 individuals.  That is not a large population, although over the past 5 years, the growth rate of the population seems to be increasing at 3% per year, with the highest growth rates on the Main Hawaiian Islands.  That’s good news.  The bad news is that the the population is still small, and threats to the population continue. What are those threats ?  NOAA lists them as follows, although they are not listed in any order of priority or importance: •. Adult male aggression :  Some males cause injury or death t...

Cats on Oahu are not randomly distributed over the landscape.  There are some places that have a high density of cats (I can think of the Hawaii Kai Park & Ride a couple of years ago, as well as the UH Manoa campus), and places with a low density (UH's Lyon Arboretum, Kapiolani Park, or Magic Island). In general, cat management concerns relate either to density (lots of cats in a small area) or behavior (one or more cats with "inappropriate" behaviors - predation, spraying, droppings, noise, et cetera).  In Hawaii, there is also a conversation about parasite shedding ( Toxoplasma gondii ).  That will be the topic of a future blog. I have heard of complaints about "large numbers of cats" at the state-managed Keehi Harbor , located about 5 miles from Waikiki, near HNL on Sand Island.  I don't know a lot about this boat harbor, but I spent many mornings a few years back sailing around this triangle-shaped island in the harbor again and again an...