Mom 'n' pup

Baby female Hawaiian Monk Seal born about 3 weeks ago. I fortunatly had the the oppurtunity to volunteer collecting data on this pup and help to protect it from anyone trying to get to close to it. They are one of, if not the most endangered mammal in the world today with only a couple thousand left. Found only around the Hawaiian Islands this is very unusual for a mother to give birth and nurse her pup on the island of Oahu. There only about 20 known Hawaiian Monk Seals around Oahu. This is the first known case of a mother and pup on this island. After about 6 week the mother will wean the pup and she will be on her own and weigh about 300-350lbs gaining 5-8 lbs a day since birth feeding almost entirely on her mothers fatty milk. The bleach mark N& you see on the mothers body is a code to identify the seal. The N means it was tagged on the island og Oahu and the number refers to which seal on Oahu it is. She also has a radio tag on her back flipper which you can't see. As soon as the mother wean the pup and leaves, the pup will also be given a bleach mark and radio tag.

I also had the oppurtunity to FINALLY use a different lens. I shot this useing a 100mm lens. They were still way out of reach of that lens but its a bit better then my 55mm. John Johnson who was taking photos of the two seals happened to be there with a 20D and 100-400mm IS L lens. (Wish i had one) But he let me use his 100mm macro to get a bit closer then my 55mm. Not the greatest photo beause it is still cropped quite close using PS but it turned out ok. And if not, atleast you may have learned something. Not sure how long i'll keep this one up.