HONOLULU (KHON2) — A team of scientists from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has discovered that endangered Hawaiian monk seals are far more “talkative” than once believed.
The study, led by researchers from the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), found that these native seals produce a wide range of underwater sounds, that reveal a complex form of communication hidden beneath the waves.
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Listening to the deep
The researchers analyzed more than 4,500 hours of underwater recordings from sites across the Hawaiian archipelago. They identified around 23,000 seal sounds that fit into at least 25 distinct call types…