The title of the hairiest animal goes to the sea otter, whose luxurious fur, according to a 2010 study, comprises a phenomenal 100- 160,000 hairs per square centimetre (an adult probably sports more than a billion hairs in total). Sea otters lack insulating blubber, so dense water-repellent fur is an important asset in the chilly […]
Tag: Sea Otters
“He approaches slowly.” Filmmakers built a robot otter and released it into the Alaskan sea. What it saw was astonishing
Tool use was once believed to be exclusive to humans, but plenty of animals have since been seen using objects to help them forage for food, clean themselves and create shelter. One of these species is sea otters. While sea otters do eat fish, they prefer to eat clams, mussels and crabs. And as they spend […]
‘Forever chemical’ contamination could undermine sea otters’ fragile recovery in Canada
Sea otters living along the coastline of Canada’s British Columbia province carry residues of “forever chemicals” in their bodies, according to a new study, and those living near dense human populations or shipping lanes are the most heavily impacted. The research was published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, authored principally by scientists at […]
Baby sea otter named Caterpillar rescued off central California coast
It was a foggy October afternoon on the central California coast when the Marine Mammal Center got a call on their public hotline: there were distressed cries coming from the frigid waters in Morro Bay. The center’s experts were able to determine that the calls – which sounded almost like a human baby screeching – […]
Taylor Swift Fans Raise Millions for Otter Conservation After Viral T-Shirt Moment
When Taylor Swift wore a vintage Monterey Bay Aquarium T-shirt featuring two sea otters during The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, no one expected it would spark a wave of donations — but that’s exactly what happened. According to People, the California aquarium reissued the shirt for a limited fundraiser after Swift’s outfit went […]
Republicans try to weaken 50-year-old law protecting whales, seals and polar bears
BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Republican lawmakers are targeting one of the U.S.’s longest standing pieces of environmental legislation, credited with helping save rare whales from extinction. Conservative leaders feel they now have the political will to remove key pieces of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972 to protect whales, seals, polar bears […]
Tell Your Representative: Don’t betray marine mammals by voting to gut the MMPA!
America’s waters are home to an incredible array of marine mammals – many species of whales, dolphins, manatees, sea otters, polar bears and more. Right now, those animals are protected from deadly threats by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). But this key law is under attack in Congress by a draft proposal to gut […]
Petition to Save the Slough Shows Sea Otters Are More Than Cute
A murky estuary once written off as an ecological disaster is now one of California’s most surprising Conservation success stories—thanks to sea otters. As reported by Discover Wildlife, Elkhorn Slough, a coastal wetland just off Monterey Bay, was suffocating under decades of agricultural runoff. Fertilizer-rich water from nearby farms turned the estuary into a soup […]