(AP) — Researchers say an endangered Hawaiian monk seal has made an exceptionally fast and long swim across the archipelago. The 6-year-old female seal made her way from Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the North Shore of Oʻahu — a trip of about 1,300 miles. She made the swim in only a month, landing on Oʻahu sometime last week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there is data that shows more than a dozen seals have made trips from the remote northern islands to the main islands in recent decades, but they usually take years, not weeks, to do so. There are about 1,400 monk seals left in the wild.

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Photo credit: Dan Dennison/Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources via AP