What Is the State Animal of Hawaii?
The state of Hawaii designated the humpback whale as its official state marine mammal in 1979. 29 years later, in 2008, the legislature decided that the monk seal should be the state symbol representing mammals. While thousands of humpbacks can be seen in Hawaiian waters every winter, the monk seal population is on the decline. This seal was hunted to the edge of extinction by man in the 19th century and still faces modern dangers such as disease and becoming tangled in fishing nets.
Other People Are Reading
-
Size
-
The humpback whale is an endangered species, with an estimated 30 to 40 thousand left in the world's oceans in 2009. The humpback can reach a length of 52 feet and weigh as much as 50 tons--its four-chambered heart can weigh over 400 pounds.
Migration
-
Large numbers of the North Pacific humpback whale population migrate to the Hawaiian Islands from November through May each year to mate. This migration's round-trip mileage is as much as 4,000 miles, one of the furthest distances migrated for any species of animal on the planet.
-
Monk seal
-
The monk seal gets its name from its round head that is covered by many short hairs; it looks like a monk. The natives of Hawaii call them Ilioholoikauaua, which translates into "the dog that can run through very rough water."
Endangered
-
The Hawaiian monk seal is an endangered species, with perhaps 1,200 still in the wild as of 2009. This seal can dive as deep as 600 feet and hold its breathe for as long as 20 minutes.
Endemic mammal
-
The Hawaiian monk seal is endemic to the islands, meaning it is a creature that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. The only other mammal in Hawaii that is also endemic to the region is the Hoary bat.
-
