Federal biologists shipped off the monk seal known as "KE18" to the University of California at Santa Cruz Thursday.

The 9-year-old seal will spend up to two years there where the animal will help scientists better understand monk seal behavior in an effort to boost its population.

In late January, a team of biologists went to Midway Island to capture the violent monk seal after KE18 killed several monk seal pups and injured others.

The 450-pound seal will eventually be returned to a facility in Hawaii.