Otters are not just cute and fluffy animals; they play a super important role in their environment. They are like the gardeners of the ocean, especially in kelp forests. Kelp is a type of seaweed that provides food and shelter for many ocean creatures. Otters love to eat sea urchins and abalone, which also eat kelp. If there are too many sea urchins, they can eat all the kelp, leaving less for other animals. So, otters help keep the balance by eating these sea urchins.
In the past, otters were almost hunted to extinction. This was bad news for the kelp forests and the animals that lived there. But thanks to people working hard to protect them, otter numbers have grown from just 50 to thousands! This is great for the ocean ecosystems from Japan to Mexico.
Imagine having a job where you get to take care of otters every day! That’s what Hannah does at the aquarium. She feeds them, plays with them, and makes sure they’re healthy. Otters eat a lot because they don’t have blubber like other sea animals to keep them warm. Instead, they have a super-fast metabolism, which means they burn energy quickly to stay warm. They eat up to a quarter of their body weight in seafood every day!
At the aquarium, otters are fed at least five times a day. They love shrimp, and sometimes the shrimp is frozen in ice. The otters have to figure out how to get the shrimp out, which is a fun challenge for them!
Otters live in cold water, so they have very thick fur to keep warm. In some parts of their body, they have up to a million hairs per square inch! That’s a lot of hair compared to what we have on our heads.
Some otters at the aquarium stay there permanently because they were separated from their mothers as pups. These otters help raise other orphaned pups. In the past, people tried to raise these pups, but it didn’t work well because the pups got too used to humans. Now, female otters at the aquarium act as surrogate moms. They teach the pups how to be otters, like grooming and finding food.
When a pup is ready to be released back into the wild, scientists make sure it’s healthy. They check its blood and fur to see if it’s stressed. They also wear special clothes to hide their human scent so the otters don’t get used to people. This is important because when the otters return to the wild, they need to stay wild and not rely on humans.
Every otter, like the one named 696, has a journey. Scientists learn a lot from taking care of these otters, which helps protect the whole ecosystem. By understanding otters better, we can help ensure a brighter future for them and the ocean they live in. Good luck, 696!
Draw a food web that includes otters, sea urchins, kelp, and other ocean creatures. Show how each animal is connected and explain why otters are important for keeping the balance in the ecosystem.
Imagine you are an otter at the aquarium. Write a short diary entry about your day, including feeding times, playing with frozen shrimp, and interacting with other otters. Share your entry with the class!
Using craft materials, create a model of a kelp forest habitat. Include otters, kelp, sea urchins, and other ocean animals. Explain how each part of the habitat supports the otters and other creatures.
Design a poster that highlights the importance of otter conservation. Include facts about their role in the ecosystem, their thick fur, and how people can help protect them. Display your poster in the classroom.
Calculate how much food an otter needs in a day. If an otter eats up to a quarter of its body weight daily, and it weighs 40 pounds, how much food does it need? Try different weights and compare results with your classmates.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
Otters are cute, curious, playful, intelligent, and fluffy. But they’re more than just adorable animals; otters are the cornerstone of a very important ecosystem. They are gardeners of the kelp forest. Their diet consists mainly of marine invertebrates like sea urchins and abalone, which feed on kelp. Too many urchins mean less kelp, and that kelp provides food and shelter for hundreds of species.
Otters were nearly hunted to extinction before the 20th century, and the loss of kelp forests threatened Pacific coastal ecosystems from Japan to Mexico. Thanks to decades of conservation work, otter populations, once as low as 50 individuals, have recovered into the thousands.
Hannah, you have one of the coolest jobs at the aquarium!
I totally agree! I am a sea otter aquarist, which means I take care of everything related to the sea otters at the aquarium.
And they pay you to do that?
Yes, I get an actual paycheck, and I still can’t believe it!
If you ever need an assistant, I’m here!
Otters love to eat, consuming up to a quarter of their body weight in seafood every day because, unlike other marine mammals, otters don’t have blubber. They depend on their turbocharged metabolism to keep warm. We feed our animals at least five times a day, with added little snacks here and there. An otter can actually cost up to $16,000 just for food for one year. They’re very expensive to keep.
We’re not allowed to give them shells on exhibit because they will use that natural behavior to pound it on the window. Instead, we freeze some shrimp, which is one of their favorite foods, in ice. They’ll go over to the window and pound it to get that food out.
They live in very cold water and have a very thick coat. In certain parts of their body, they can have up to a million hairs per square inch. That’s as much as we have on our entire head!
Do these otters live here permanently?
Yes, the animals in the exhibit will always stay with us. They all came to us as pups, having been separated from their mothers. They play a very important role. Right now, one of our exhibit animals is behind the scenes raising a pup to be released.
Historically, in the 80s and 90s, we had a difficult time successfully rehabilitating and releasing stranded orphan sea otter pups. We could keep them alive, but when we released them, they were too habituated to people. The main reason was that we were using humans as maternal role models for these pups.
In 2001, we began to experiment with the idea of using female sea otters as surrogates instead of humans. These females didn’t give birth to the pups, but they do adopt them as their own.
Yes, this is really extraordinary. Initially, the female will grab the pup and put it on her chest, and it may start towing it around. That will progress into grooming the pup. A critical behavior we see frequently is food sharing; while the female is foraging, she’ll come back to the surface and pass food to the pup.
What we’re doing is taking advantage of the innate maternal behavior of our exhibit female sea otters. We have an orphaned sea otter who needs to learn the life skills necessary to be a sea otter, specifically how to groom properly, pick up food, and access food inside a hard shell—all those life skills necessary to survive in the wild.
We just looked at a really interesting animal. What was happening back there in that room?
That animal is 696. He came in as an orphaned pup and was given to one of our exhibit females who raised him as a surrogate. Today was a very stressful day for him; it was weaning day, so we sedated him to do a thorough physical examination and ensure he’s as healthy as he looks!
We look at the blood, take a robust blood sample, and pull a couple of whiskers to evaluate their stable isotopes. We may also pull some fur to look for stress hormones down the road, and we keep a large sample in the library for future research.
This is the softest thing I’ve ever felt! You are adorable. This is one of the few exposed areas where they aren’t covered in dense fur, and it’s just so warm; you can feel the heat coming off their feet.
So, is that a healthy otter?
It’s too early to tell, but I don’t see anything to suggest otherwise. The otter we were working on today will ultimately be released back into the wild. The only time we handle the animals is when we’re netting them and doing brief health checks on the pup. During that process, we wear latex gloves, hoods, and capes to mask our human form and scent.
It’s really important that they don’t get used to people because these are wild animals, and when they return to the wild, we want them to stay that way.
Exactly, we don’t want them to like us or associate food with us. There’s no advantage to liking people if you’re out there in the wild as a sea otter. This otter is on its way to learning how to continue being a wild animal, and we hope one day to release it back into the wild. Good luck!
696’s journey is far from over, and like otters everywhere, his future is still uncertain. I’ve learned that their population won’t be saved one fuzzy face at a time, but the knowledge gained by these hard-working scientists will give an entire ecosystem a better tomorrow.
Otters – Small, playful mammals that live in water and have thick fur to keep them warm. – Otters often play and hunt in rivers and oceans, using their agile bodies to catch fish.
Kelp – A large, brown type of seaweed that grows underwater in shallow oceans and forms dense forests. – Kelp provides food and shelter for many marine animals, creating an important habitat in the ocean.
Seaweed – A type of plant-like organism that grows in the sea and is an important part of the ocean ecosystem. – Seaweed can be found floating in the ocean or attached to rocks, providing food for fish and other marine life.
Ecosystem – A community of living organisms and their environment, interacting as a system. – A coral reef ecosystem includes fish, corals, seaweed, and many other creatures living together.
Animals – Living organisms that can move and respond to their environment, including mammals, birds, fish, and insects. – Animals like dolphins and turtles are often seen swimming in the ocean.
Pups – Young animals, especially young mammals like otters or seals. – Seal pups are born on the beach and rely on their mothers for food and protection.
Aquarium – A tank or building where fish and other aquatic animals are kept for people to see and learn about. – The aquarium has a large tank filled with colorful fish and coral reefs.
Cold – Having a low temperature, often used to describe environments like the Arctic or Antarctic. – Penguins are adapted to live in cold climates where they can find plenty of fish to eat.
Fur – The thick hair that covers the skin of some animals, helping to keep them warm. – The otter’s fur is very dense, which helps it stay warm in cold water.
Shrimp – Small, swimming crustaceans that are often found in the ocean and are a food source for many animals. – Shrimp are an important part of the ocean food chain, providing nourishment for fish and whales.
