Thursday, May 15, 2008

Oahu Pup Update - Backgrounds

Pup #1 P01 on Oahu was born on Rabbit Island on 4/20/2008
Mother is Ewa Girl ID# RS00, born in 1992 in the North West Hawaiian Islands. She showed up on the Main Hawaiian Islands in 2000 and has given birth at least 4 times. Flipper tags left S00 & 1A0, right flipper S01 & 1AP.

Ewa Girl frequents Hanauma Bay and has been seen on Kauai. Her distinct markings include a crescent shaped scar on the right side of her face, skewed nipples (only 3), a scar over right shoulder and a pit scar left mid body.

Ewa Girls' other pups;
RM34 born 2001 on Big Island (disappeared or dead)
RV08 born 2005 male Buster
RB12 born 2007 female Sadie

Pup #2 P02 on Oahu born Monday 5/12/2008 on the North Shore (near Turtle Bay). Pup is a male. This is the third pup for this mom. This female was first identified as an adult on Kauai in 2002. She was tagged on Kauai in 2003 (tags: 5AY/5AZ) and received the perm. ID of R5AY. She was sighted on Oahu in 2004 and 2005.

In 2005 she gave birth to her first pup on Kauai (RI37). In 2006 she gave birth to her second pup on Oahu at Turtle Bay--this pup later drowned in a gill net off of Rabbit Island. She tends to frequent the North and Northwest shores of Oahu.

Pup #3 P03 born on 5/14/2008 North Shore.
Have not sexed the pup at this time. This is the first documented pup for this mom. RK28 ("KC") is typically a seal seen on Kauai. She is untagged and was first identified on Kauai in 2003. She was seen briefly on Oahu in 2005. She returned to Oahu the fall of 2007 and has been sighted regularly along the North Shore and Northwest side of the island. She was bleach marked "N14" and has several prominent cookie cutter shark scars on her body that help to identify her. It is believed that she may have pupped on Niihau in the past: observations from Kauai report that she would disappear while looking very pregnant, only to return several months later much thinner.

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