Facts about Sea Otters
- 07
Whiskers on sea otters contain specialized sensory organs called vibrissae that detect vibrations from prey hiding in sand and crevices up to 3 feet away on the ocean floor.
- 06
Pups are born with eyes closed and remain dependent on their mothers for up to two years, the longest dependency period of any carnivoran relative to body size.
- 05
By consuming sea urchins voraciously, sea otters maintain kelp forest ecosystems along the Pacific coast, as urchins otherwise overgraze and destroy the kelp that supports hundreds of other species.
- 04
Holding rocks in pouches of loose skin, sea otters are the only non-primate mammals known to use tools for cracking open shellfish and sea urchins underwater.
- 03
Their dense fur contains up to one million hairs per square inch, the thickest of any mammal, insulating them in cold ocean waters without blubber.
- 02
In the 1911 International Fur Seal Treaty, sea otters were protected after hunters reduced their population from approximately 100,000 to fewer than 1,000 individuals.
- 01
A sea otter's metabolism burns approximately 25% of its body weight daily, requiring constant foraging to maintain its 1.4 to 1.8 kilogram average mass.