What Kind Of Animal Is A Sea Otter

Otters are some of the well-nigh adorable aquatic animals. Their charming features are unparalleled, from their expressions to their use of tools.

Held every year during the last week in September, Sea Otter Awareness Week spotlights the important role of ocean otters in nearshore ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean. Get ready for some awesome otter facts and photos. We promise that you'll be otterly entertained!

ane. Forget everything you lot thought y'all knew about otter species. Xiii unlike species be effectually the globe. The U.South. is home to two species: the sea otter and the North American river otter. River otters are much smaller — averaging ten-30 pounds — with a cylindrical trunk and pocket-sized head. Ocean otters counterbalance more than — around 45-90 pounds — with large, hirsuite faces.

If this southern sea otter looks comfy, that's because it's settling down to balance in a minor patch of Egregia (feather boa kelp) at Moss Landing in California. Photo by Lilian Carswell, U.Due south. Fish and Wild fauna Service.

ii. Otters have some interesting relatives. Otters are part of the Mustelidae family, which is a family of cannibal mammals that includes skunks, weasels, wolverines, and badgers. The ocean otter is the largest member of the weasel family unit, yet the smallest marine mammal in North America.

A ocean otter snoozes on its back — showing its hind legs, tail and webbed feet, which brand otters great swimmers. Photograph by Bob Winfree, National Park Service.

3. Most sea otters phone call Alaska home. Approximately xc percentage of the world'southward body of water otters alive in littoral Alaska. Many alive in the waters surrounding public lands including Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kenai Fjords National Park, and Glacier Bay National Park. Southern body of water otters range along the mainland coastline of California from San Mateo County to Santa Barbara County, and San Nicolas Island.

Own't no party similar a ocean otter party! A group of otters stay together for mutual protection from predators in the waters effectually Moss Landing, California. Photograph by Lilian Carswell, U.S. Fish and Wild fauna Service.

4. U.S. and international law protects threatened bounding main otters. Hunted to the border of extinction by fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, the few remaining sea otters (almost ii,000 scattered in remnant colonies throughout the North Pacific rim) were beginning protected by the International Fur Seal Treaty in 1911. Sea otters in the United States received additional protections with the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Human action and the Endangered Species Human action in the 1970s.

A rescued body of water otter pup is taken to Alaska SeaLife Center to be treated. Photo by U.Due south. Fish and Wild fauna Service.

5. Sea otters eat 25 percent of their body weight in nutrient every twenty-four hour period. Sea otters' diets include bounding main urchins, crabs, mussels, and clams, which they're known to crack open up with a rock and eat while floating in the water. To notice food, body of water otters may occasionally dive as deep as 250 feet and will utilize their sensitive whiskers to locate small prey inside crevices or their strong forepaws to dig for clams.

This ocean otter decided on the all you lot can eat crab legs for its evening repast. Photo by David Ledig, Agency of Land Management.

6. Sea otters have the thickest fur of any animal. Their fur contains between 600,000 to i,000,000 hair follicles per square inch. Unlike most other marine mammals, otters lack a blab layer. Instead, they depend on their dense, water-resistant fur to provide insulation. To continue warm, sea otters spend a large portion of their days grooming and conditioning their fur. This traps air and heat side by side to their pare.

A sea otter grooms itself to stay warm. Photograph by Lilian Carswell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

vii. Sea otters tin can accept a pup whatever time of the year. Southern sea otters breed and pup year-round, while northern sea otter pups in Alaska are ordinarily built-in in the bound. A newborn pup needs constant attending and will stay with its female parent for half-dozen months until it develops survival skills. Fun fact: An otter pup's fur is so dumbo that it can't dive underwater until information technology gets its adult fur. This comes in handy when mothers exit their pups safely floating on the water'due south surface while they forage for food.

A mother body of water otter carries her pup. Photo by Lilian Carswell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

8. Don't challenge otters to a jiff holding competition. An otter's lung capacity is ii.5 times greater than that of similar-sized country mammals. Sea otters accept been known to stay submerged for more than 5 minutes at a time. River otters, however, can hold their breath for upwardly to 8 minutes. The increased time underwater improves otters' opportunity to sense prey and forage for food.

A sea otter floats and grooms in the waters at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Photograph by the National Park Service.

ix. Otters are an essential keystone species. A "keystone species" is a species that is critical to how an ecosystem functions because information technology has large-calibration effects on the communities in which it lives. Along the Pacific coast, ocean otters help command the sea urchin population. Fewer sea urchins in turn aid prevent kelp forests from beingness overgrazed. In California, research has found that bounding main otters also heighten seagrass beds, and in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park, sea otters' expansion into the area marked a gradual return of a more diverse ecosystem and an exciting moment in colonization efforts.

By rubbing their flippers and forepaws simultaneously, sea otters increase the efficiency of a grooming session. Photograph past Lilian Carswell, U.S. Fish and Wild animals Service.

ten. The otter is one of the few mammals that use tools. A bounding main otter's tool of choice: typically a stone that can be used as a hammer or anvil to suspension open up hard-shelled casualty. Ever wonder where otters actually store these tools for safety keeping? They have a loose patch of skin nether their armpit to store both the food they've foraged and their rock to scissure it open up.

An otter enjoys a snack of fresh mussels at Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. Photograph by Anne Langan, National Park Service.

11. A group of resting otters is called a raft. Otters love to rest in groups. Researchers have seen concentrations of over 1,000 otters floating together. To keep from drifting away from each other, body of water otters will wrap themselves upward in seaweed, forming something that resembles a raft.

A raft of otters resting in a group. Photo by Lilian Carswell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

12. Otters might look soft and cuddly but remain dangerous wild animals. Otters have strong teeth and a powerful bite. So, whether you see an otter on land or at sea, be sure to maintain a safe altitude of at to the lowest degree 5 kayak lengths or 60 feet from the otters. Learn more virtually staying condom around sea otters.

A body of water otter in the Prince William Sound of Alaska, relaxes in a bed of kelp. Photograph past Bill Tucker (sharetheexperience.org).

If an otter notices you, it probably ways you're as well close. Make certain to accept pictures from shore or at least five kayak lengths from the otters and always apply your zoom. Love these fun otter facts? Check out this otter-worldly info.

Source: https://www.doi.gov/blog/12-facts-about-otters-sea-otter-awareness-week

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