The endangered population of Hawaiian monk seals are facing a new possible threat to their existence. A bunch of them keep getting eels stuck up their noses, and scientists can’t figure out why it is happening and aren’t quite sure what to do about it.

This picture was posted on the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program Facebook on Monday and they didn’t seem too bothered about the fact that there was an eel sticking out the nose of the seal. They just made a joke about Mondays, and at this point I hope they fired their social media manager because it wasn’t great.

Mondays…it might not have been a good one for you but it had to have been better than an eel in your nose. We have… 由 Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program 发布于2018 年 12 月 3 日 周一

Naturally, a lot of people on Facebook weren’t as chill about the whole thing and demanded more information. Why is there an eel in it’s nose? How did it happen? Did they do it on purpose? Which animal initiated the situation in the first place? Answers were needed.

The Washington Post interviewed the head of the Monk Seal Program Charles Littnan and he explained that they have no idea why it’s happening. He’s also apparently “begging” the seals to “make better choices.” Somehow we think that approach might not work out.

According to Littnan, the phenomenon started two years ago when a colleague emailed him. The subject line was simple enough (a bit clickbaity if you ask me but whatever); “eel in nose”. It took several emails and phone calls before the decision was made to grab the eel and try pulling it out as there were no protocol in place for it happening.

After a while of tugging – “tugging” being the technical term for removing an eel from a seal’s nostril – the team had pulled a two and a half foot dead eel from the seal’s nose. Since that first incident there have been at least four more of these occurrences. Whilst all the seals have survived without harm, none of the eels managed to stay alive in the nostrils.

When asked why it was happening, Littnan simpy responded “We have no idea”, but confirmed it was not done by a human as the seals are on an island only visited by researchers. Whilst Littnan has theories of how it may be happening, he believes none of them make sense.

“They’re really quite long eels, and their diameter is probably close to what it would be for a nasal passage,” when discussing the possibilities of how it happened, adding “I struggle to think of an eel really wanting to force its way into a nose.”

WHEEEEEEN THEEEEE

NOSE OF A SEAL

HAS BEEN STUFFED WITH AN EEL

THAT'S A MORAY https://t.co/rjDabSvvtw — FIIIIIVE GO-HOLD RIIIIINNNGSAH (@Scriblit) December 7, 2018

At the end of the day the scientist put it down to possibly just being a trend amongst young seals. “One juvenile seal did this very stupid thing and now the others are trying to mimic it.” He told The Washington Post.

Watch: Seal – “Kiss From A Rose”