Monk Seal Molt

Patches of Hawaiian Monk Seal skin, showing how furry they are!

Two wildlife scientists have arrived on Midway to continue the Hawaiian Monk Seal work. Earlier this week Brenda and Mimi gave a very interesting talk, explaining a lot of different things about the seals. Wow; there was lots to learn!

I learned something about the skin of Monk Seals. They are mammals like us: we have hair growing out of our skin, and they have fur. I had forgotten about this because when you see a Monk Seal from the proper 150 feet distance, their skin looks slippery, not furry. But they really do have fur; it's short, as you can see in the picture.

Once a year, beginning when they're one year old, Hawaiian Monk Seals molt. This means that new skin replaces the old skin. Brenda & Mimi collected some of the molted skin (see picture, with my sunglasses to give size) and showed it to us during their presentation. The fur on the right was colored greenish by marine algae! I wanted to see how the molt felt, so I rubbed it gently on my cheek. It felt like a natural-bristle hair brush!