Lonely Life of a Seal Pup

Imagine being the last living human on Earth. Sounds pretty lonely, right? Well, that's a close approximation of life for a little monk seal pup in Hawaii found abandoned by his mom and now the subject of some concern, reports AOL News.

The seal, known as KP2, was rescued by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and kept in captivity for the first seven and a half months of his life. Once he was big enough, he was released into the wild. The idea, of course, was to return him to his natural surroundings at sea. But monk seals are one of the most endangered species on the planet, and KP2 couldn't find any friends.

So he did what any social being would do: He found another species to befriend. KP2 swam his way toward civilization, ending up in a wharf in Hawaii's Molokai Island where he's been swimming with the local humans ever since. And who wouldn't want to swim with a seal pup?

But what started out as child's play is now getting dangerous. Recently, while playing, the 17-month-old pup, who now weighs 100 pounds, held an elderly woman underwater and pierced the skin on a young boy's arm. He's like an unruly teenager with no adult supervision.

“When they grow and get bigger, their natural behaviors include mock fighting and sparring. The hormones kick in,” NOAA marine mammal specialist David Schofield told AOL News.

NOAA scientists say they plan to take KP2 to a Hawaiian habitat further out, in the hopes he'll find a new life, away from his adopted peeps. Sounds like a fair solution, but maybe a new name would help the little guy win over the other seals in his new neighborhood? Just a thought...

Photo of monk seal (not KP2) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.