The Hawaiian Monk Seal: An Endangered Species

The Hawaiian Monk Seal: An Endangered Species The Hawaiian monk seal (Neomonachus Schauinslandi) is an endemic species located on the Hawaiian Islands. It has the following taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Carnivora, Family: Phocidae, Genus: Neomonachus, and Species: Schauinslandi (fisheries.noaa.gov). It is found predominately on the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, with a smaller population located on the main islands. The monk seal arrived at the Hawaiian Islands anywhere from 3.5 to 11.6 million years ago. They are believed to have entered from the east via a passage way in Central America (fpir.noaa.gov). The animals were hunted aggressively in the 19th century for their fur. Since then, there population has not been able to recover. The monk seals face a number of obstacles to survival. Its population is still declining, as there were an estimated 1,112 remaining in 2015. Historically, its geographic range has been within the U.S. waters near the Hawaiian Islands. They can be found on the isolated beaches of the northwestern islands. They spend much of their time at sea near coral reefs. The seals habitat also consist of submerged sea banks, atolls, and other areas offshore. The monk seal typically forages for food at a depth of 60-300ft. deep (fisheries.noaa.gov). During breeding season, the monk seals are located on the sandy beaches of Hawaii. They prefer remote and secure locations when nursing their pups, which lasts a month until they return to the sea. The life span of a Hawaiian monk seal is 25-30 years. They mature at the age of five, and can grow up to 7.5 feet and weigh 400lbs. An interesting feature of the seal is they are born black, but grow a silver coat later in life. The monk seal is considered a benthic forager which eat fish, eels, octopus, and crustaceans (fisheries.noaa.gov). There are several reasons for the Hawaiian monk seals population has declined at such a rapid rate over the past few decades. First of all, the human population on the islands has disturbed the animals natural habitat. The seals often die after getting caught in fishing nets, and there is a decrease in food available which might be attributed to overfishing in the area. The seals have faced difficulty in finding sufficient food due to competition from other predators as well. Also, the monk seal is a source of prey for sharks which adds to its loss in numbers. Genetic variability is low among the Hawaiian monk seals, which has added to the species difficulty in recovering from its endangered status. This is compounded by the fact that subpopulations fail to migrate or interact with populations of differing islands. This has caused inbreeding which carries with it a host of negative consequences. Genetic diversity helps a species to recover by promoting disease resistance and adaptability to a changing environment. On the other hand, a lack of diversity increases a chance for disease and reproductive failure (Kretzmann 482-483). Inbreeding occurs when the number of potential mates is low, and it carries with it a number of concerns. When a species is facing extinction, the absence of genetic diversity can compound its struggle for survival. DNA testing of the monk seal has shown that its genetic diversity is extremely low. Because of this, an outbreak of an infectious disease could possibly cause the Hawaiian monk seal to become extinct (Kretzmann 487). If the seals were to breed with populations from differing islands, it could hypothetically increase their chance for survival. Mobbing, or the aggressive behavior exhibited by male seals, often results in the death of a female or young seal. It occurs when a group of males attempt to mate with one female and end up attacking the female. The resulting injuries can lead to infection or death. This is causing slower development of the seals population. It is found that in groups of smaller populations with slower growth rates, instances of this behavior are higher. It is thought that mobbing is a learned behavior that may take time to be overcome. Intervention can be used to decrease mobbing behavior, such as removing a set number of males from an area where there is an unequal gender ratio (Starfield and Roth 166, 169). There is currently action being taken to help the species recover. The Hawaiian Monk Seal Captive Care Workshop was created to halt the population decline and help it to recover. The organization believes that an annual reduction in population of 3.9% is due to the poor survival rate of juvenile seals. By supporting captive seals through rehabilitation, nutrition, and relocation, the group hopes to increase survival. It also advocates for other methods of helping the species, such as disentangling seals caught in fishing nets and removing debris from its habitat (Baker and Littnan 11). Other methods include removing sharks from the seals habitat, or relocating pups to areas where there is a lower risk from predators. Captive care and release helps undernourished or ill pups that might otherwise die. Once they are healthy, the young seals are relocated to an area where they will have a better chance of survival (Baker and Littnan 11, 12). It has been found that a high rate of seal pups die shortly after being weaned from the mother. The mother will leave the pup after one month of nursing, and if the pup is unable to find sufficient food, it faces starvation and death. The importance of the conservation efforts by these captive care and release programs cannot be understated. Since the Hawaiian monk seals have low genetic variability, they are more susceptible to disease. It is thought that another species, the Caribbean monk seal (Neomonachus Tropicalis), had a susceptibility for disease which likely hastened its extinction. The morbillivirus is of particular concern for the Hawaiian monk seals. The morbillivirus is a string of viruses that include the measles, which can be spread quickly and easily. Once a seal has become infected with the virus, the lungs and brain are affected, which can lead to death in as little as 5 days. The disease has already killed thousands of Atlantic seals and dolphins. Since the seals have no immunity to these viruses, scientists have taken action to create and administer a vaccination (Rogers). Once scientists found a suitable vaccine, they began to administer it to the seals in 2015. The vaccination process begins with a single injection, followed up with a booster shot one month later. As of September 2016, 43 Hawaiian monk seals have received the vaccination. The group of scientists (HMSRP) administering the shots hope that this project will be successful and grow. The Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program is also involved in other interventions such as removing seals from fishing nets and hooks, rehabilitating malnourished pups, and relocating seals to higher survival areas. Their efforts have slowed the populations decline by over half in the past 3 decades (Rogers). While the monk seal once had instrumental value, and were hunted for their furs, this led to the near extinction of the species in the early 1900s. Since the seal is no longer used for human purposes, it is now appreciated mainly for its intrinsic beauty. Intrinsic beauty is something that can be valued for its own sake. The monk seal is a rare animal that can be appreciated for its uniqueness, and has been an important aspect of the Hawaiian Islands for over 3 million years. The Hawaiian monk seal is also important to other species and the areas ecosystem. They are an apex predator and play an important role in keeping a number of prey from becoming overpopulated. Therefore, they create a balance needed for in maintaining a diverse and stable ecosystem (Muneoka). This is a significant reason for the conservation of the Hawaiian monk seals. The Hawaiian monk seal has faces so many obstacles over the past century, yet it has been able to survive in spite of these. The most alarming problem that the seals face is lack of food. The juvenile seals are facing a continuing threat of starvation, and they are in constant competition with fisheries and other predators. Protected areas for the seals have been used in the past, and expanding these will likely help. It will not only increase food supply for the seals, but will also prevent them from getting caught by fish hooks or nets. Until there is a greater supply of food for the monk seals, efforts in capturing and rehabilitating the young pups is important. Also, once they seals are at a healthier weight, they can be placed in an area where there is a higher source of food and increased chance of survival. Relocating seals is also helpful in increasing genetic diversity, which will help in the species ability to fight disease. Inoculation of the monk seal is also a good attempt at decreasing the seals vulnerability of disease. One other concern, mobbing, is a factor that is decreasing the chance of the seals survival. Interventions, such as removing males from areas where there is an imbalanced ratio of male to female, are helpful. With all of these efforts, and the noble concern of the people involved, the Hawaiian monk seal is beginning to see a brighter future. The population of monk seals has rising 3% annually over the past 3 years. As of January, 2017, there is an estimate of 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals. This is a great improvement, considering there were 1,112 seals in 2015. Interestingly, the state of Hawaii has dedicated 2017 as the Year of the Monk Seal. In conclusion, with the continuing hard work of the hard working people involved to save the Hawaiian monk seal, there is great hope for the species survival in the future. Works Cited Hawaiian Monk Seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi). http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/seals/hawaiian-monk-seal.html. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Historical Timeline of the Hawaiian Monk Seal. http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/PRD/Hawaiian%20monk%20seal/HMS_natural_history_timelineWEB.pdf. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Schmelzer, Isabelle. Seals and Seascapes: Covariation in Hawaiian Monk Seal Subpopulations and the Oceanic Landscape of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Journal of Biogeography 27.4 (2000): 901-914. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Kretzmann, Maria B., et al. Low Genetic Variability in the Hawaiian Monk Seal. Conservation Biology, vol. 11, no. 2, 1997, pp. 482-490., www.jstor.org/stable/2387621. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. Starfield, Anthony M., et al. Mobbing in Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus Schauinslani): The Value of Simulation Modeling in the Absence of Apparently Crucial Data. Conservation Biology, vol. 9, no. 1, 1995, pp. 166-174., www.jstor.org/stable/2386398. Baker, Jason and Littnan, Charles. Report of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Captive Care Workshop, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 11-13, 2007. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., (2008). Rogers, Kim. Why Rare Hawaiian Monk Seals Are Lining Up to Get Their Shots. Smithsonian (2016). http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/researchers-are-vaccinating-wild-marine-species-first-time-180960479/. Web. 17 Feb. 2017. Muneoka, Lauren. Why Care About Monk Seals? Kahea (2011). http://kahea.org/blog/why-care-about-monk-seals. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Money Over Power Beyond its Fate Essay

Money is the root of all evil. It is the most powerful thing in the world besides love. Sometimes money can ruin love in a friendship, relationship, or even worse family. Money can even decide the fate of a human’s life. â€Å"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.† (Elizabeth Gilbert). In the movie, â€Å"No Country for Old Men,† A character by the name of, Llewelyn Moss, is caught in the cross fires of money, his actions, his thoughts, and most of all his own fate. Throughout the movie he is in a constant rat race with a man who goes by the name of, Anton Chigurh, who is a hit man that was hired to get the money that moss had stumbled upon and taken. Ofcourse Moss did not have to take this money and if he didn’t he wouldn’t be dealing with money, power, or the very predetermined fate of himself throughout the movie. Chigur also acts an officer of fate making up his own rules as he sees fit. Although Moss’s character may represent free will he also represents the fate that people make on their life after making one poor decision. Not only does this money ruin the fate of moss but it always toys with the fate of Moss’s wife, the owner of the gas station, and the children who were paid off to keep quiet. Some may say that it is not money that is the root of all evil but it is power. So does money and power go hand in hand? With money you have the power to control whatever you want, and with the most power you gain fear in others as well as continue to gain money from those who fear you. In â€Å"No Country for Old men† there is a constant battle between the power money holds on oneself as well as the fate of a life through money. The first time money determines a person’s fate is  during the coin flip at the gas station. When Chigurh realizes that the man working at the counter knows where he is from, he now becomes a witness of who Chigurh is and where he may be from. Maybe if the man would have just been quiet in the first place instead of trying to use the small talk and be friendly Chigurh would have never even have to have the thought of killing the man in the first place. But because the man is the person he is and just wanted to help â€Å"time pass† it pulled a spark and brought the whole conversation in another direction. Chigurh then begins to question the man. What time do you close? Do you stay out back? What time do you go to sleep? The Owner knew he was in some type of trouble and quickly tries to hurry the man out of his store so that he can reach some type of safe zone between him and Chigurh. The conversation continues and that’s when it starts to get a little interesting. Chigurh finds out that the man was married into the business. He didn’t want it nor did he save his earnings but fate brought him to that gas station and Fate would determine his life in a coin toss. â€Å"It is interesting, however, to note the way Chigurh and the Proprietor discuss the stakes of the game. The Proprietor is no doubt aware of the danger he’s in, but is carefully trying to determine the nature of the danger. They both avoid talking about the stakes of the game directly — the Proprietor, because if he says it, it might happen; Chigurh, because he considers himself an agent of Fate. Discussing it directly would make him responsible, and he’s not; the evil swirling through the film is bigger than this one man† (goodreasonblog.blogspot.com). Fate had played a life saving role in this man’s life but so did money. The flip the coin would determine his fate and that is when we right back on the subject of how which played a bigger role? The coin had all the power, although it was an instrument of the fate the man would determine on his own it still had the power. So can we really say that his fate was the reason this man is still alive? In the owners good graces he won the coin coin flip and his life was spared. But what if he had lost that coin flip? Do you really think Chigurgh would have killed an innocent man just because he noticed where he was from? Well that question could have been answered at the end of the movie when Chigurgh shows up at Moss’s wife, Carla Jean’s, house. Carla Jean finds herself seated across from the emotionless Chigurh. Chigurh had promised Moss that he would allow Carla Jean to live if the money was returned to Chigurh. He  assures Moss that it is the best deal he has to offer. Moss would have died either way but Chigurh promises Moss that he would not harm his wife as long as Moss listened to him. But of course determining the fate of himself and his wife Moss chooses not to listen to Chigurhs orders. It is really heartbreaking at this point in the movie because we all know Carla Jean is going to die. The power money has on a person is quite disgusting in this movie because we see that Moss truly chose his money over his wife. Chigurh tells Carla Jean that Moss could have saved her but the power of money had taken over Moss’s mind and moss made a decision for them both to suffer. â€Å"You don’t have to do this† Carla jean tells Chigurh. Chigurh then chooses to offer her the same coin flip option that he had previously offered the lucky old man at the gas station. Unlike the old man, Carla Jean refuses to call it when asked, even after the coin had been flipped and was just waiting to be called â€Å"The coin don’t have no say in it – it’s just you.† Chigurh again points out that he â€Å"got here the same way as the coin did.† Fate brought him to her house because of her husband and the power of money is what would kill Carl Jean in the end. Not only doe Chigurh try determining the fate of others, He also tries to determine the fate of himself. At the end of the movie when Chigurh is hit he pays a boy to keep quiet and act like nothing ever happened. Why would Chigurh do this? He is using his money to determine his fate. Chigurh knows that the lower his profile the less chances he will have of getting caught and going to prison for the illegal activity he has had going on. All in all none of these people had to do what they did. These were the choices they made and because of that, fate had a new twist on their life. Moss did not have to steal the money but he knew with more money came the happiness him and his wife had been working for. Maybe he did it out of love or maybe he was just being greedy we will never really know. Even Chigurh had the choice to not kill all those people because of Moss. All of those people who had died was a predetermined fate that was out of their control. Fate, in this movie, obviously came in more than one sub category. The money meant power and the power controlled ones fate. â€Å"Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line  can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person’s path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.† (coen 259) http://goodreasonblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-country-for-old-men-coin-toss-scene.html http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/fate

Analysis Of Ted s Stevens Disability Essay - 1515 Words

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The And Circumstance At Chisago Lakes High School

Pomp and Circumstance High school Commencement in the United States is a tradition like no other. Every June, high school seniors dress in their Sunday best and head to the tried-and-true ritual. Parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles swarm to secondary institutions with their cameras in hand. With the sea of hats and gowns, the graduating class is unified and united. Over the recent decades, Commencements across the United States have incorporated cords and stoles. These emphasize both communal and individual achievements throughout students’ secondary education and their community. At Chisago Lakes High School (CLHS), these achievements are recognized at Commencement with a variety of cords. Students who participate in the National†¦show more content†¦In the winter month of February, the CLHSSC organizes Snow Days, a winter Homecoming of sorts. Along with an enthralling pep fest, the CLHSSC hosts a formal, Sadie Hawkins Dance. Often the case, male students usuall y ask their female classmates to attend the school dance. However, with Sadie Hawkins, female students are empowered due in part to the fact that they ask their male classmates. Along with sponsoring CLHS events, the CLHSSC works directly with the NHS. Besides CLHSSC, the NHS, which is validated at Commencement through cords, plays a large role in promoting volunteerism and civic duties throughout CLHS and the Chisago Lakes community. Every year, NHS hosts a Compassion Collection by which CLHS students bring in toiletry items during the holiday season. CLHSSC members work directly with NHS members to collect, sort, and donate the items to Family Pathways, the local food shelf. Also, at the state level, the Minnesota Association of Student Council (MASC) and the Minnesota Association of Honors Societies (MAHS) work directly with each other and host an annual State Convention. This Student Council and NHS conference acts as a catalyst to share ideas across the State of Minnesota. With that said, Student Council and NHS have a vested interest in one another. However, at the CLHS Commencement, only NHS member are recognized by the white cords while CLHSSC members are not recognized. Even though the CLHSSC arguably contributes more to the