00:00Honolulu, AP, an endangered Hawaiian monk seal has given birth on a Waikiki beach, the first such birth in at
00:07least several decades.
00:09The seal was born late Wednesday or early Thursday, said Angela Amlin, coordinator for the Hawaiian monk seal recovery program.
00:17Mother and pup attracted dozens of onlookers if they rolled around on the sand.
00:22Volunteers kept people at a safe distance behind a rope barrier.
00:26This Thursday, June 29, 2017 photo shows a Hawaiian monk seal and her newborn pup on Waikiki beach in Honolulu.
00:35The pup, born late Wednesday or early Thursday, is the first seal to be born in the densely populated tourist
00:41district since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began keeping track in the 1970s.
00:47AP photo Audrey McAvoy
00:49The mother, known as Rh58 and nicknamed Rocky, has lived on and around Oahu since 2002.
00:57But she would return to Kauai, where she was born 17 years ago, to give birth.
01:03This time she had her pup at Caymana, an area in Waikiki popular with Honolulu residents.
01:09It's the first seal to be born in the densely populated tourist district since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
01:16began keeping track in the 1970s, Amlin said.
01:20Amlin says monk seals normally like to give birth in quiet spots so it's rare that pumps appear in a
01:25congested place like Waikiki.
01:27Monk seal pumps usually nurse for about five to seven weeks.
01:31Mothers are protective of their pumps during this time.
01:35Officials are urging people to keep their distance so they don't disturb the pair.
01:40Hawaiian monk seals are an endangered species.
01:43There are about 1,400 in the wild.
01:46Separately, NOAA officials said a Hawaiian monk seal conservation volunteer on Kauai captured rare video of one of the animals
01:54giving birth.
01:54This seal known as RO-28 hit her pup on Kauai's north shore on June 18th.
02:00This Thursday, June 29, 2017 photo shows a Hawaiian monk seal and her newborn pup on Waikiki bee.
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