Fact1: Sea otters have incredibly fast metabolisms; a 60-pound adult sea otter eats at least 15 pounds of food (25% of its body weight) each and every day. They prey on sea urchins that feed on kelp. 5 Our significant Otters: 10 fascinating facts about the Sea Otter, Orcas on the Edge: A quest to film the critically endangered southern residents. 9. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The sea otter is one of the smallest marine mammal species, but it is the heaviest member of the weasel family. Predators of this species include orcas, great white sharks and sea lions; bald eagles may grab pups from the surface of the water. Generally, the male sea otters grows from 3.11 to 4.11 feet in length and weighs around 49 to 99 pounds. Most sea otters measure less than 50 inches. In environments where sea otter populations … A “keystone species” is a species that is critical to how an ecosystem functions because it has large-scale effects on the communities in which it lives. A raft typically contains 10 to 100 animals, with male rafts being larger than female ones. Save my name, e-mail, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. While river otters mostly live off fish, crayfish and crabs, sea otters have a more interesting method of sustaining themselves. Their frequent appearance also means more … Their beautiful fur is a main target for many hunters. Sea otters primarily rely on their sense of touch (whiskers and forepaws) in murky waters to locate prey. Weight of otter depends on their breed. Singapore is hooked on cute otters Otters have become a common sight in garden city Singapore, with a family otters seen casually taking strolls at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, Toa Payoh, and even in St Andrew’s Junior College. Funny! What Thick Fur You Have . The female sea otters are smaller as they grow up to 4.7 feet in length and weigh up to 73 pounds. Otters have as many as 2.6 million hairs per square inch. Sea otters have the thickest fur of any mammal. That’s because, unlike its fellow marine … 90% of all sea otters live on the coast of Alaska. They usually weigh between 7 to 31 pounds (3 – 14 kg). They generally reside in places where the water is warm and the land is sandy. Floating on its back, it opens mollusks and other shells by smashing them on a stone balanced on its chest; it is one of the few mammal species to use tools. Your e-mail address will not be published. For rapid swimming and for diving, they swim similarly to other otters, using up-and-down undulations of the body. North American Sea Otter is also more slender than other otter breeds. Fact 1 Male otters are generally known as meowters. Cute! North American Sea Otters are larger than Asian otters. A raft may have only ten sea otters but may also be a group of up to a thousand! We’ll be celebrating these amazing animals all fall with special sea otter programming at the Aquarium and a sea otter themed scavenger hunt! The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is rare, completely marine otter. Sea otters are just as full of interesting characteristics as they are full of cuteness! In Honor of Sea Otter Awareness Week, Ten Fun Facts about Sea Otters . Here are five interesting facts about them: These beautiful animals are the smallest marine mammals in the world, measuring just 148 cm long. Sea otters are social, and tend to congregate in groups of gender, with pups and females in a group and males in another group. Almost all otters have webbed feet, some more webbed than others, and they can close off their ears and nose as they swim underwater. Its fur is the densest of any animal on Earth—an estimated 1 million hairs per square inch. By: Brianna Elliott. The fur is responsible for insulating them and keeping them warm because they do not have a layer of blubber to keep them warm and protect them from the outside environment. The biological name is Lontra Canadensis. Unlike most other marine mammals, the sea otter has no blubber and relies on its exceptionally thick fur to keep warm. They move by paddling their hind limbs and sculling with their tails. In adults, the head, throat, and chest are lighter in color than the rest of the body. Their beautiful fur is a main target for many hunters. Females tend to stay away from males except when mating. This thick fur keeps the animals warm but unfortunately has led to over-hunting by … They are one of the few animals that use tools! Here are five fun facts you otter know: Sea otters have the densest fur in the animal kingdom, with up to one million hairs per square inch of their body! It is known as the common otter or northern river otter. Sea otters have incredibly dense fur, with up to 150,000 hair follicles per square centimeter. Sea otters, whose numbers were once estimated at 150,000 to 300,000, were hunted extensively for their beautiful fur between 1741 and 1911, and the world population fell to 1,000 to 2,000 individuals living in a fraction of their historic range. Photo of the day: black and white puffins, Grass snake sighting – fantastic video of a snakelet, Photo of the day: Osprey a magnificent hunter. He writes about conservation because he thinks vultures are underrated, pistol shrimps are actually quite interesting, and the world could do with a few more Kakapos. Nowadays, sea otters are beloved due to their appearance and charismatic personalities. Sea otters eat 25% of their body weight in food every day. 3. Sea otters can do well in captivity, and are featured in over 40 public aquariums and zoos. Archaeological evidence indicates that for thousands of years, indigenous peoples have hunted sea otters for food and fur. Most sea otters hunt and eat by themselves but then stay together in this group or raft when resting. 9. Topics: Responsible Fishing. Sea otters are carnivores in the family Mustelidae—a group of animals that also includes terrestrial and semi-aquatic forms such as weasels, badgers, skunks, fishers, minks, and river otters. Humans have about 300/cm² on their head. A group of sea otters is called a raft. The following two tabs change content below. Sea otters have built in pouches of loose skin under their forearms to stash extra prey when diving. The size of the California (or southern) sea otters is about 4 feet. They use their sea whiskers to find small creatures to eat, and their paws to dig for clams. By. Most marine mammals rely on a layer of blubber to keep them warm, but sea otters don’t have any. This semiaquatic mammal has the weight of 11 to 30.9 lb or 5 to 14 kilograms. The single pup (twins are rare) may be born ashore or at sea and is nursed 6 to 12 months. While Buzzfeed, (Apr 14) had found out that the number one reason that sea otters are dying is because of oil spills! Sea otters are very social animals that can live in groups made up of hundreds of individuals. They live in offshore forests of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera), and spend most of their active time foraging below the canopy. 9. The tail comprises less than a third of the body length and is slightly flattened, and muscular; the large hind feet are broad and flipperlike. 8. Different species of otters have different gestation periods: Typically, the smaller otters carry their young for two months, while bigger ones like the sea otters have a gestation period of five months. He also writes for Farsight Conservation. The rest do it in a den which are often created by other animals like beavers. 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