Melissa Netze - Senior Thesis Student, Department of Marine Science, UH-Hilo

The objectives for this study are to examine how certain behaviors; nursing frequency, nursing duration, and habitat use change over the course of a pupping event of a Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). I will also look at the effect of human disturbance on the same behaviors by quantifying the disturbance level as high, low, and none.