Hawaiian Male Monk Seal Skull

Description

Hawaiian Male Monk Seal Skull measures 9.4 inches. Hawaiian Male Monk Seal Skull is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Neomonachus schauinslandi is their scientific name. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home decor skull, or office decor skull.

Hawaiian Monk Seal or Neomonachus schauinslandi are rare Pinnipedia Phociade of isolated reefs off the western Hawaiian Island chain and Midway.

Hawaiian Monk Seal or Neomonachus schauinslandi grey coat, white belly, and slender physique distinguish them from their cousin, the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). The monk seal’s physique is ideal for hunting its prey: fish, lobster, octopus and squid in deep water coral beds. When it is not hunting and eating, it generally basks on the sandy beaches and volcanic rock of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

The Hawaiian Monk seal or Neomonachus schauinslandi is part of the family Phocidae, being named so for its characteristic lack of external ears and inability to rotate its hind flippers under the body.

The Hawaiian monk seal has a relatively small, flat head with large black eyes, eight pairs of teeth, and short snouts with the nostril on top of the snout and vibrissae on each side. The nostrils are small vertical slits which close when the seal dives underwater. Their slender, torpedo-shaped body and hind flippers allow them to be very agile swimmers.

Hawaiian Monk Seal or Neomonachus schauinslandi males are 300 to 400 pounds in weight and 7 feet in length while adult females tend to be, on average, slightly larger, at 400 to 600 pounds and 8 feet in length.

When pups are born, they average 30 to 40 pounds and 40 inches in length. As they nurse for approximately six weeks, they grow considerably, eventually weighing between 150 to 200 pounds by the time they are weaned, while the mother loses up to 300 pounds.

Hawaiian Monk Seal or Neomonachus schauinslandi, like elephant seals, shed their hair and the outer layer of their skin in an annual catastrophic molt. During the most active period of the molt, about 10 days for the Hawaiian monk seal, they remainson the beach.

The hair, generally dark gray on the dorsal side and lighter silver ventrally, gradually changes color through the year with exposure to atmospheric conditions. Sunlight and seawater cause the dark gray to become brown and the light silver to become yellow-brown, while long periods of time spent in the water can also promote algae growth, giving many a green tinge.

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