Sea Otter

The Sea otter (Enhydra Lutris) is the smallest aquatic animal and probably the cutest with its gentle expressions and playful nature. With almost one million hair per square inch of skin, this giant sea otter has the thick furs of any mammal. Unfortunately, this made a major target of the fur trade in 1800 and as a result, the sea otter has hunted to its extinction. Since then, sea otter populations have somewhat recovered but the species is classified as Endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species and faces pitfalls including the oil spill and other forms of pollution. 

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Sea Otter Family

The species Sea Otter is the largest member of the Weasel family ( the Mustelidae).

Sea Otter Size and Life Span

• Baby sea otters, also known as pups, are only 10 inches long when they are born.

• Adult sea otters can grow up to five feet long and weigh up to 90 pounds in Alaska and sometimes reach 80 pounds in California. Female sea otters are usually smaller.

• The average life species of these giant Sea Otters is 10 to 12 years, but they have been known to live up to 25 years.

Sea Otter Eating Habits and Habitat

Sea otters are found in coastal areas with shallow water. They usually find their food on the floor. They perform all the activities such as grooming and eating on the surface.  Sea otter eating consists mostly of invertebrates such as clams, sea urchins, muscles, and crabs. They usually eat between 25%- 40% of their body weight regularly to keep their body warm, and generally feed in the morning and afternoon.

Sea Otter Sound

All otters produce sound and communicate with other otters vocally.

Giant sea otters are the most vocal of all otters, uttering frequently with great volume. Researchers have differentiated nine different vocals including scream that represents excitement, and whistles associated with interactions.

Researchers have identified nine different sea otter sounds including distress screams, and contented coos including whines, whistles, growls, and snarls.

Sea Otter Behavior

Sea Otters are very social animals and float in single-sex groups known as “rafts” which can be formed anywhere between 10 to 100 individuals. During resting or feeding, sea otters often wrap themselves in kelp to prevent themselves from floating away with the currents and are generally observed holding hands with other individuals in rafts to avoid separations.

Sea Otter Holding Hands

Sea otters always hold hands in the water during sleep. One reason for Sea Otters holding hands is to prevent drifting away from each other in the water. Otters fear losing their families while they sleep or relax. 

Another reason for sea otters holding hands is a fear of losing their female partner to that of another male. There is intense competition between male otters when it comes to searching for a mate.

The third reason for sea otters holding hands is to protect themselves from predators and hunters. Otter furs are expensive, and the animals are often hunted. When they hold hands with other Otters, they can remain away from land, making it difficult for hunters to kill them.

Sea Otter Coats

Sea Otters are diligently clean. After eating, they wash in the oceans, cleaning their cats with the help of their teeth and paws. They have a better reason to take care of their coat and it helps them to remain waterproof and insulated against the cold.  Sea otters have thick underfur that traps air to form an insulating air against the chilly water. This coat is invaluable to otters but is worth it to some humans.

Sea Otters are hunted for their prey to the point of their extinction. Only 1000 to 2000 remained earlier in the 20th century. Sea Otters are largely protected by law.

Sea Otter Reproduction

Sea otter birth occurs throughout the year with peaks between May and June in the Northern population and between January and March in the Southern population. The gestation period of sea otters varies from four to twelve months, as the species is capable of delayed implantation by four months of pregnancy. Sea otters in California breed every year, about twice as those in Alaska.

Sea otter birth generally takes place in water and typically produces one pup weighing 1.4 to 2.3 kg. Twin sea otters occur in 2% of births, however, usually, one pup survives. At birth, sea otters' eyes are open, ten teeth are visible, and the pup has a thick coat of fur. Sea otter mothers have been observed to lick a newborn for hours’ after grooming, the pup’s fur retains so much air, the pup floats like a fork and cannot dive. The fluffy fur of their babies is replaced by adult fur at about 13 weeks.

Nursing lasts six to eight months in California and four to twelve months in Alaska populations respectively, with the mother beginning to offer bits of prey at one to two months. The milk from a sea otter's mother from two abdominal nipples is quite rich in fat and more similar to the milk of other marine mammals than to that of other mustelids. A pup with the help from its mother practices swimming and diving for several weeks before it can reach the seafloor. 

Initially, the objects it repossessed are of little food importance, such as brightly colored starfish and pebbles. Adolescents are typically independent at six to eight months, but a mother may be pressured to abandon a pup if she cannot find enough food for it; at the other extreme, a pup may take care of it until it is almost adult size. Pup mortality is high, specifically during an individual's first winter – approximately, only 25% of pups survive their first year. Pups born to experienced mothers have the highest survival rates.

Females perform all the tasks of feeding and raising offspring and have occasionally cared for orphaned pups. In the wild, sea otters live to a maximum age of 23 years with an average lifespan of 10-15 for males and 15 -20 females.  Sea otters in the wild often develop worn teeth, which may account for their shorter lifespan.  

Sea Otter Importance

Sea Otters are renowned species representing the beauty and diversity of marine life found along the California coastline. Sea Otters are also considered as keystone species due to their critical importance to the health and stability of the nearshore marine ecosystem.  Their diet includes sea urchins and other invertebrates that feed on giant kelp. Without Sea Otter, these feeding animals can destroy kelp forest and therefore the wide diversity of animals that relies on the kelp habitat for survival. Additionally, the sea cotter protects the coastline from storm surge and absorbs large amounts of harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Sea Otters are considered as sentinel species as their health affects California’s coastal waters.

Sea Otter Threats

Sea Otter faces several threats, though overhunting for trading is no longer one of them. Pollution is the major factor in Sea Otter' death, with oil spills affecting their ability to hide and runoff from the land that includes chemicals and disease-causing organisms. These pollutants are washed into the sea and absorbed by the shellfish and other prey of Sea Otters. Sea Otters become infected or intoxicated by eating a lot of these contaminated shellfish. This often leads to illness and eventually health.

Sea Otter Predators

The main predators of Sea Otters include killer whales and sharks.

Sea Otter Subspecies

Sea Otter subspecies includes:

• Common Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris lutris)

• Southern Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris nereis)

• Northern Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni)

Sail Otter Fun Facts

• Sea Otters are the smallest marine animals and of the largest species of otter in the World.

• In comparison to other polar bears in the Arctic, sea otters are considered as keystone species in the ecosystem as they largely affect the environment. For example, they consume abundant sea urchin, which consumes kelp in large quantities. When sea urchin populations are largely controlled by sea otters, important kelp forests can flourish.

• They spend most of their time in the water. They sleep, rest or even give birth pulp underwater.

• The lifespan of a male sea otter is 10 to 15 years while the lifespan of a female sea otter is 15 to 20 years. A female sea otter matures at the age of 3 to 4 years while the maturity of male sea otters reaches 5 years.

• Sea otters clean themselves after a meal, washing their coats with their teeth and paws. Also, they need to keep their fur coat neat and clean so it always stays waterproof. 

• The sea otter can live its entire life without drinking water.

• Sea otters must consume between 25 to 40 percent of their body weight daily just to keep warm. They stuff themselves on more than 100 different species.

• Sea otter fur is the densest of any animal on Earth- approximately 1 million hairs per square inch. This is because similar to fellow marine animals, it has no blubber to keep it warm. 

• Sea otters do not roam around so far. Their rafts generally include single-sex which generally comprises from as few as 10 individuals to as high as 1000.

• The sea otter taste is not so pleasant, so they are not quite eaten by their predators. However, the baby sea otters may be killed by their predators like sea lions, killer whales, great white sharks, and bald eagles.