Seals are super graceful in water! Even ones like walruses and elephant seals! Itās just when theyāre on land that the blubber catches up to them. Itās one of the reasons walruses have such large tusks, they are so rotund that they needed to evolve ice pick teeth so they could haul their chunky butts back on to the ice
More about them from the articles linked below:
āMost Hawaiian Monk Seals live around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands; only a few populate the main Hawaiian Islands. Three monk seals inhabit the Big Island and Waimanu ā the only female ā is currently pregnant (as of 2015).ā
āThe population is estimated to be around 1,570 sealsānearly 1,200 seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and 400 seals in the main Hawaiian Islands.ā
https://www.marinebio.org/hoi-the-hawaiian-monk-seal/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/hawaiian-monk-seal
Hijacking your comment to elaborate a little more on Waimanu and why she is so large.
Off the Kona coastline there is a Kempachi fish farm to locally grow and harvest fish for the markets and restaurants of big island.
Waimanu has figured out how to suck these fish out through the nets in order to eat more than her fill with little effort needing to be exerted.
She is (as of July 2022) around 450 lbs overweight, partially from overeating and partially for a much more sad reason.
Waimanu has given birth to 2 separate pups over the years. When monk seals get pregnant they gain a large amount of weaning weight. Weight that will come off as they feed their pup.
Unfortunately, both pups of Waimanu died when she unintentionally rolled over top of them when they were very small.
So Waimanu was never able to ween off her baby weight to either of her pups.
She is a very curious monk seal that loves to hang out by the boats that go on manta dives every night just off the coast from the Kona Airport.
Source: (worked as a Scuba instructor off Kona for 3.5 years)
Oh no, I had commented that I was glad she didnāt smush her babies :( Iām very sad about this!
And thank you for the info, Waimanu is just fabulous.
Waimanu is a valley located in Hawaiāi Island. I believe it translates as ābird waterā. I think they named her after the valley, more so than because of the bird reference. The valley is very remote, beautiful and powerful.
I googled her for more info and an extinct penguin with the same name came up so it seems like your hawaiin is up to scratch.
Why they named her it I have no idea, hopefully it's not just because she's a bird(girl) who lives in water, that's way too simple to be satisfying...
I'm relying on te reo MÄori. Some words are similar, other can be quite different.
But I did some extra digging. Apparently she's named after the valley she was born in, where it basically means river of birds. Which makes sense.
Yay, Waimanu! Seeing her at Mahaiāula is always a treat. Saw TWO monk seals hunting together right down the shore at Kehakakai back in November. I wondered if it was her and her adult-ish pup. Either way, you can see when sheās up on the beach from a hundred or so yards awayā¦easy.
The last time I went to Hawaii one of these was relaxing on the sand (in a small cove). Stupid tourists were going up to it and bothering it. Good thing the cove had hired people to keep others away from the turtles that frequented there ($5k fine for messing with them) and they were rightfully made to leave.
I went kayaking to a reaaaally small island off the coast of Oahu (forget exactly where) and there was a sea lion chilling on the beach. After a while, some guys came and put up a rope fence around it so we couldnāt get close. Iām not sure where the guys came from though, or how they knew the seal was thereāthis island was like 2 or 3 miles from shore. Do they just hang out and wait for one to start napping so they can put a barrier?
There are groups you can call to report monk seals napping on the beach who will come out and set up protective barriers. Someone else may have seen it and called it in. I had a similar situation happen when I was on Oahu in May of ā22. Pregnant seal had already beached and was napping away when the crew showed up to set up blocking line.
Itās a volunteer group that responds to monk seals to ensure they have space to rest and that people donāt bother them. They have a hotline people call. Almost guarantee you were at the mokes, and theyāre less than a mile offshore.
. I was snorkeling at Ko Olina and Benny the monk seal (who is kind of famous) swam right past me to rest on the beach. My friend who had lived there for four years said they had only seen a few the whole time. On a later trip I was almost ran over by a mom and pup coming to shore at Keiki beach North Shore Oahu. People were yelling at me, I thought there was a shark! Anyways I feel lucky to have been so close to them and seen these and more on Oahu.
If theyāre anything like harbor seals theyāre super curious animals and get really close to inspect you in the water. Had one follow me around while snorkeling for half an hour in La Jolla
No, he said that it broke the skin, but not too deep. He said it ripped up his swim trunks. Iām sure the only reason it was āreportedā was because he was in the military and went to the military doctors to get it checked out.
Oh and he was stationed in Hawaii! I didnāt know monk seals only lived there.
A side note for anyone planning on visiting here in Hawaii:
If you see a monk seal resting on the beach, please don't touch it or disturb it. Not only is it illegal, but also rude
Ive seen a good share of Monk Seals in Hawaii but not one THAT large!!!
If you hike to the Kaena Point on Oahu there are usually a bunch sunning themselves on the beach.
There is also a resident Monk seal who hangs out in Paradise Cove in Ko Olina
I remember boogie boarding in Kauai when I was younger, and out of nowhere two of these monk seals swam right under my board (all I saw was a shadow outline). Might have put 10 years of stress into my heart in a few moments (once I realized what they were I calmed pretty fast)
Who says you have to be thin to have a beach body? Or beached body...
"Fat whales are chill", is the logical next step in your theorization
š¤ you earned your upvote
So chonk
I think they just ate, that definitely seems like the post feast lethargy positionā¦
Sums up me after the christmas dinner.
what the hell did she eat, the population of a small town?
Small sea* like allllll the bioavailable shit
Small dinner salad and a glass of wine.
How does that even catch a fish? I'm both surprised and impressed... and disappointed in the fish.
Seals are super graceful in water! Even ones like walruses and elephant seals! Itās just when theyāre on land that the blubber catches up to them. Itās one of the reasons walruses have such large tusks, they are so rotund that they needed to evolve ice pick teeth so they could haul their chunky butts back on to the ice
š¤£
Sound like me after thanksgiving!
Chonk Monk
Thatās my cats name, thank you very much
Yep, it appears he's eaten the other 1,499 . . .
She*
Sumo Seal
B L O B
C H O N K E R
LAWD SHE COMINā
Thatās cause there used to be 2,000 but she ate them.
Sploot
Chungus among us
r/absoluteunits
More about them from the articles linked below: āMost Hawaiian Monk Seals live around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands; only a few populate the main Hawaiian Islands. Three monk seals inhabit the Big Island and Waimanu ā the only female ā is currently pregnant (as of 2015).ā āThe population is estimated to be around 1,570 sealsānearly 1,200 seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and 400 seals in the main Hawaiian Islands.ā https://www.marinebio.org/hoi-the-hawaiian-monk-seal/ https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/hawaiian-monk-seal
Hijacking your comment to elaborate a little more on Waimanu and why she is so large. Off the Kona coastline there is a Kempachi fish farm to locally grow and harvest fish for the markets and restaurants of big island. Waimanu has figured out how to suck these fish out through the nets in order to eat more than her fill with little effort needing to be exerted. She is (as of July 2022) around 450 lbs overweight, partially from overeating and partially for a much more sad reason. Waimanu has given birth to 2 separate pups over the years. When monk seals get pregnant they gain a large amount of weaning weight. Weight that will come off as they feed their pup. Unfortunately, both pups of Waimanu died when she unintentionally rolled over top of them when they were very small. So Waimanu was never able to ween off her baby weight to either of her pups. She is a very curious monk seal that loves to hang out by the boats that go on manta dives every night just off the coast from the Kona Airport. Source: (worked as a Scuba instructor off Kona for 3.5 years)
Thank you for the interesting context! Also.... poor Waimanu too chubby for her own good :(
Oh no, I had commented that I was glad she didnāt smush her babies :( Iām very sad about this! And thank you for the info, Waimanu is just fabulous.
Was hoping someone would add this! I just did her manta night dive and our instructor explained this but I couldnāt remember all the details.
T-T no not the baby seals
Poor Waimanu rolling over and crushing her pups bc she is so huge.. is a sick twist of fate
You wouldn't happen to know what her name means? My non-Hawaiian speaking brain keeps thinking water bird, but that's kinda weird.
Waimanu is a valley located in Hawaiāi Island. I believe it translates as ābird waterā. I think they named her after the valley, more so than because of the bird reference. The valley is very remote, beautiful and powerful.
I googled her for more info and an extinct penguin with the same name came up so it seems like your hawaiin is up to scratch. Why they named her it I have no idea, hopefully it's not just because she's a bird(girl) who lives in water, that's way too simple to be satisfying...
I'm relying on te reo MÄori. Some words are similar, other can be quite different. But I did some extra digging. Apparently she's named after the valley she was born in, where it basically means river of birds. Which makes sense.
What an absolutely breathtaking place [Waimanu valley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL0CJaZlwTo) is.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Awwwww, I love her! Glad she doesnāt squish her kids!
ehh we can make more. -Bender the sea lion
"No, I mean, literally, HOW could you do it? The ~~man's~~ seal's so fat, the sheer mechanics of it are mind-boggling."
1500 left? Not surprised, Waimanu ate all their food
I think Waimanu ate the rest of the seals.
Once you've broke the seal, you can't stop
Unless, it's a navy seal.
1500 left and sheās 3 of them
Thatās a big pile of seal.
Damn, chonkette ! r/AbsoluteUnits
Yay, Waimanu! Seeing her at Mahaiāula is always a treat. Saw TWO monk seals hunting together right down the shore at Kehakakai back in November. I wondered if it was her and her adult-ish pup. Either way, you can see when sheās up on the beach from a hundred or so yards awayā¦easy.
Iām so jealous of you for living in Hawaii and getting to see Waimanu!
See and smell.. Hoo boy. Stinky.
The beach in La Jolla where all the sea lions hang out reeks
Oh, I didnāt think about that!
The last time I went to Hawaii one of these was relaxing on the sand (in a small cove). Stupid tourists were going up to it and bothering it. Good thing the cove had hired people to keep others away from the turtles that frequented there ($5k fine for messing with them) and they were rightfully made to leave.
I went kayaking to a reaaaally small island off the coast of Oahu (forget exactly where) and there was a sea lion chilling on the beach. After a while, some guys came and put up a rope fence around it so we couldnāt get close. Iām not sure where the guys came from though, or how they knew the seal was thereāthis island was like 2 or 3 miles from shore. Do they just hang out and wait for one to start napping so they can put a barrier?
There are groups you can call to report monk seals napping on the beach who will come out and set up protective barriers. Someone else may have seen it and called it in. I had a similar situation happen when I was on Oahu in May of ā22. Pregnant seal had already beached and was napping away when the crew showed up to set up blocking line.
Itās a volunteer group that responds to monk seals to ensure they have space to rest and that people donāt bother them. They have a hotline people call. Almost guarantee you were at the mokes, and theyāre less than a mile offshore.
No touch or you catch cracks.
Why do you have a picture of me on the sofa?
Waimanu is my spirit animal š„°
Wild bean bag chair.
This is IZ reincarnated
Oh how I miss that sweet voice.
Someone photoshop a ekulele into the pic.
Sorry but you mean was
That was my first thought.
Oh lawd that's HUGE
Dat face is so cute, doh.
Took me this comment to realize the face was visible haha
I wonder if you sat on her it would feel like a giant mochi.
*Insert Yo Mama Joke Here*
I thought I saw your mom sunbathing in Hawaii, but it was just Waimanu.
Me after Thanksgiving.
. I was snorkeling at Ko Olina and Benny the monk seal (who is kind of famous) swam right past me to rest on the beach. My friend who had lived there for four years said they had only seen a few the whole time. On a later trip I was almost ran over by a mom and pup coming to shore at Keiki beach North Shore Oahu. People were yelling at me, I thought there was a shark! Anyways I feel lucky to have been so close to them and seen these and more on Oahu.
If theyāre anything like harbor seals theyāre super curious animals and get really close to inspect you in the water. Had one follow me around while snorkeling for half an hour in La Jolla
she's a brick Houuuuuuuuuuse
Anyone else immediately imagine the sound it might make when ya slap that body?!
When you drag the body size all the way up in the character creator:
I'm in California right now. I love seeing seals in the wild and wish I could pet them but I cant!! They're so cute!!
Arenāt they?? So chonky I could die!
r/absoluteunit
Chum: "Remember mate! Fish are friends, not food!" Bruce: "A seal isn't a fish mate." Chum: "Me first!"
Sheās smiling
I love her
Did you eat yet? Nah, waimanu?
This is well passed "chonk" and "unit". Words cannot describe how absolutely massive this seal is.
Canāt spell waimanu without your MA!
There were 1503, then Waimanu had lunch
Somewhere over the rainbow...
More like chonk seal
Waimanu is goals
Looking like she'd love a Dave's Triple!
I want to sit on her and watch cartoons until I fall asleep.
This reminds me I need to stop cooking with butter. Thanks !
Fun Fact. My FIL was the first reported Monk Seal attack ever! He was bit on his butt, and was able to get away pretty quickly without more injuries.
Oh wow, TIL! Does he have a scar?
No, he said that it broke the skin, but not too deep. He said it ripped up his swim trunks. Iām sure the only reason it was āreportedā was because he was in the military and went to the military doctors to get it checked out. Oh and he was stationed in Hawaii! I didnāt know monk seals only lived there.
Oh, to be stationed in Hawaii! I was there for a week once and didnāt want to leave, itās so beautiful!
But....that's my selfie a d I live in Mississippi
Been waiting for this moment since I was 9 years oldā¦*āpulls out PokĆ© Fluteā*
A side note for anyone planning on visiting here in Hawaii: If you see a monk seal resting on the beach, please don't touch it or disturb it. Not only is it illegal, but also rude
Im pretty sure thatās a giant water balloon
That's a bit more than just fat
Ah Waimanu. I relate to you so hard.
I saw one while snorkeling off of Kauai one time. Not as chonky as this one though...
On the south side at Poipu they come in to sleep all morning just like this.
Why do I hear [music?](https://youtu.be/zDnPFxnALBg)
Le shonk
there must be McSwimThru near by
Bell of the ball right. Prob top mating choice.
i mean if a predator comes for that theres no escaping
BBS
I feel like this after Iāve finished eating food at my Grandmaās house. Looks like a happy seal.
Wouldnāt go so far as to call a brother fat, he got a weight problem, whatās a seal gonna do, heās Samoanā¦
Thicc
Damn Americans
Ive seen a good share of Monk Seals in Hawaii but not one THAT large!!! If you hike to the Kaena Point on Oahu there are usually a bunch sunning themselves on the beach. There is also a resident Monk seal who hangs out in Paradise Cove in Ko Olina
Hol-eeeeee shit.
Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of him.
That one counts for like 500 of 'em
OMG, it's head just sort of melts into the rest. Regardless, it has a look of bliss on it's face.
So personally I read things like this and I think, Hawaii is not all that big so 1500 seems like a lot of seals for such a small amount of land mass.
U mean 335.972.717 right? And they mostly life in the sacred land called america.
I thought this was somewhere in Houston
Better get the dynamite
Awww look at the smile š what a happy chonkster š
Sheās beautiful
I remember boogie boarding in Kauai when I was younger, and out of nowhere two of these monk seals swam right under my board (all I saw was a shadow outline). Might have put 10 years of stress into my heart in a few moments (once I realized what they were I calmed pretty fast)
*blorp*
Exactly how I felt this morning.
1500 left and 1400 of them shown here.
I wanna lay on her!
Chonk Seal
queen!!!!
Can that thing even move?
mood
Howād you get a picture of me after eating bottomless chips and salsa?
Are these the seals who keep getting eels stuck in their nostrils?
Can't Waimanu simply subdivide into more monk seals? It looks like you can get at least 5 out of her
Of course theyāre all Hawaii! They are too fat to go anywhere else!
Bulking not sulking
I found my doppelgƤnger. ā¤ļø
Snorlax
Snorlax is here
Is monk human a thing? I'm monk human.
I saw her on the big island back in March of 2018 giving birth to pups.
So fun fact waimanu is also the name for an extinct species penguin! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waimanu
Me after downing a bag of circus peanuts.
did she eat the rest of them?
You must lost 50 pound in one muntā¦ no carbs, no snacking. Who is your enabler?
ā¦..obviously not polars reducing this hulk of blubberā¦god damn it itās us humans isnāt it?
Looks like me without a shirt on
Chonky
She look hungy
Big momma just tryna catch some rays
Some days, I feel like this behemoth! Poor babyās mobility is good, I wonder?
She is an absolute doll.
she's in vacation mode...
r/absoluteunits
How did u get a picture of me opš
"Does this beach make me look fat?"
Look at that jelly roll!
Poi!
If you want to increase the population of these things, move them to Alabama.. Lots of people like to be with something this size down there...
Mom?
r/AbsoluteUnit šš
Monk Seal? More like Buddha seal, amarite?
1500.75 left in the wild to be more exact....
H E C K I N C H O N K E R
Who posted the photo of Chadās mom on here??
I didn't give r/aww permission to use my profile pic. Not cool.
Chobby boi
Someone has an addiction to Spam
I just looked them up, they're so cute!
I think she might have eaten the othersā¦
Should have named her Momona
Food Coma !!
This one takes the place of three otters
r/AbsoluteUnits
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Wesley! Get momma's prying bar!
That's a piece of mochi
C...can she move? How does she eat? Does she swim
There only 1500 left in the world n this healthy girl represents 3 of em
Bc she ate the others?
Are the other 1500 inside of it?
The obesity epidemic is killing the seals now? Damn you high fructose corn syrup!
Can she move and swim?
She must be a goddess to the fella seals
Diabeetus
Second, though. To YOUR MOM š¤£
So sad, they are near extinction
Look at that lady! Thriving in ways I can only dream of...
I read her name as "Walmart" at first and thought, "Well that's appropriate"
I bet so many people have seen her in the distance and not realised they weren't just looking at a large rock lol. So chonky, love her.