A Brief History of Sea Otters

Historically, sea otters occurred across the North Pacific Rim, ranging from Hokkaido,
Japan, through the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Commander Islands, the
Aleutian Islands, peninsular and south coastal Alaska and south to Baja California, Mexico.
In the early 1700s, the worldwide population was estimated to be between 150,000 and
300,000 individuals. Sea otters were hunted to near extinction during the maritime fur trade
of the 1700 and 1800s. A population that once extended continuously along the North
Pacific Rim was reduced to a few small colonies. When sea otters were protected by the
International Fur Seal Treaty in 1911, probably fewer than 2,000 animals remained.

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Currently, the California population numbers around 3,000 and ranges from Half Moon Bay
to Santa Barbara. Today, worldwide estimates (including all three subspecies) comprise
around 125,000 sea otters. Sea otters inhabit shallow coastal areas and show a preference
for places with kelp. In 1987, otters were reintroduced to San Nicholas Island in southern
California.

In the 1970s, Dr. James Estes recognized that he could study the influence of sea otters on
other species in their environment by comparing the coastal habitats in Alaska’s Aleutian
Islands where sea otters had recovered to similar places where sea otters were absent. Dr.
Estes found that the presence of sea otters had a dramatic effect on coastal habitats (see
case study below).

Case study: Sea Otters → Urchins → Kelp

While scuba diving in the Aleutian Islands, Dr. Estes noticed places where the seafloor was
covered with sea urchins and no kelp remained. Places that are overrun with urchins are

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known as “urchin barrens.” Sea urchins are herbivores and feed on seaweeds like kelp.
When urchins are uncontrolled by predators they become larger and more abundant,
feeding on kelp until little remains. In contrast, Dr. Estes noticed that places with healthy
sea otter populations often had healthy kelp forest habitat as well. By controlling the size
and number of sea urchins (sea urchins are one of their favorite foods, and they eat the
larger ones first), sea otters created the opportunity for kelp to grow and flourish, which in
turn created habitat for numerous other kelp forest dwellers. This top-down type of
relationship between a predator (sea otter), herbivore (urchin), and plant (kelp) is known as
a trophic cascade. The complexity of trophic cascades can vary extensively from place to
place, but this basic pattern is the foundation for understanding how sea otters fit into a
healthy coastal environment.

Without sea otters, kelp forests are consumed by urchins. The sea otter's big appetite helps control sea urchins.

Otter Feeding Behavior

Sea otters feed primarily on benthic invertebrates like crabs, sea urchins, sea stars, clams,
worms, abalone, and marine other snails, and have been observed feeding on more than 75
different species in CA. Sea otters are one of the few animals to use tools and will use a
rock like an anvil or hammer to break open hard-shelled prey like snails and clams.
Sometimes they will use the claw of a crab to break open the crab’s own shell!

When sea otters are underwater searching for food, they sometimes store what they have
found in the loose skin folds at their armpits. In order to help stay warm while living in a
cold-water environment, sea otters have very high, heat-generating metabolisms and need
to eat roughly 25% of their body weight every day to stay healthy! Sea otters primarily rely
on their sense of touch to locate prey, using their sensitive forepaws and whiskers to probe
crevices and sea floor for invertebrates. They may feed equally during the day and at night.

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 A mother sea otter shares her prey – a sea urchin and a brittle star -- with her pup. Photo by Joan Tisdale

The heat generated by their metabolism is insulated by their dense fur coats, and sea otters
must devote 8-12% of their time to grooming their fur to keep it in good condition. In a
healthy, well-groomed sea otter coat, the insulating air layer prevents cold water from ever
touching their skin. While grooming, sea otters may roll about, turn somersaults, scrub with
their fore and hind feet, and even blow air into their coat with their mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qvBI5RA9l8

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Population Status

The population status is a term used to depict a species level relative to a natural or
unperturbed state. Sea otters in California were federally listed as threatened under the
Endangered Species Act in 1977 due to their low overall numbers, limited range, and
vulnerability to a catastrophic event such as an oil spill. Unlike other marine mammals, sea
otters do not have a blubber layer. Therefore, they rely on their fur to keep warm. If their fur
is oiled, it loses its insulating qualities and the sea otters soon chill. Otters are also affected
by the oil fumes or poisoned by eating food exposed to oil and attempting to groom an
oiled coat. Most sea otters quickly die in an oil spill. Several thousand sea otters died in the
1989 Exxon oil spill in Valdez, Alaska.

The number of Southern Sea Otters killed by Great White Sharks in California has
dramatically increased to as much as 60% of known mortalities (2016) in recent years.
Scientists do not fully understand the cause of this increase although they suspect that
sharks only “sample” sea otters while hunting for more suitable prey like seals.

Other threats to sea otters include infectious diseases, parasites, boat strikes, fishing gear
entanglements, and toxins. At the center of the range in California (roughly Moss Landing to
San Luis Obispo), the sea otter population is thought to be at or near carrying capacity.
That is, the population numbers are as high as current resources levels (specifically prey)
can support. Change may be in progress along the central coast, however, as abundance of
sea urchins, a favorite prey of sea otters, has increased at some locations due to the loss of
the large, predatory Sunflower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) to Sea Star Wasting Disease.
With the sunflower stars gone, sea urchin populations skyrocket, and current research is
examining how sea otters respond to this increase in availability of a nutrient rich food
source. In the absence of increased prey availability at range center, further population
growth can occur only through expansion at the range ends to the north and south.

In Moss Landing, CA, kayakers may disturb the resident sea otters as many as 20 times a day. Anytime you cause a sea otter to
change its behavior, you are causing disturbance to this vital and protected species.

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Sea Otters and Disturbance

Disturbance to the natural behavioral patterns of sea otters can occur in areas where
human marine recreation activities and sea otter habitat overlap. Sea otters are very
charismatic and viewing and/or photographing them may often be a primary goal of marine
recreationists. Kayakers, stand-up paddlers, scuba divers, ecotour operators, and others are
often unaware that the manner in which they behave near otters can cause disturbance to
important behavioral patterns and result in wasted energy, increased stress, and potentially
pup abandonment. Because sea otters don’t store energy in the form of fat, they are always
dependent on a delicate balance of energy income (in the form of food) and energy
expense (in the form of activities such as swimming back and forth to foraging areas,
social interaction, fur maintenance, and care for their pups). Swimming and diving to avoid
watercraft that approach too close or too aggressively results in an additional energy
expense burden. If an energy deficit is the result, the sea otter must either find more prey to
eat or risk losing body condition, which is elemental to good health, disease resistance,
reproductive success, and survival. Sea otters are protected under the Marine Mammal
Protection Act.

Sea Otter Quick Stats!

● The average lifespan for a sea otter is 15-20 years.

● Average weight of an adult male in CA = 30 kg (66 lbs), adult female = 18 kg (40 lbs)
● Average length of an adult in CA = 1 meter (3.2 ft)
● Pups per year: 1 (twins are rare, and the mom can only care for one)
● Gestation: 6 months total (~ 2 months delayed implantation + 4 months active pregnancy)
● Season sea otter pups are born = spring, summer, fall, winter (any season!)
● Average amount of time that sea otter pups are dependent on their mom = 6 months
● Average daily (kilo)calories consumed by an adult male = 4,300
● Deepest recorded sea otter dive in California = 264 feet (9-year old male from SLO county)
● Longest recorded sea otter dive in California= 7.9 min (10-year old male from Monterey)
● Average dive depth in California = 24 feet
● Average dive duration in California = 61.5 seconds
● Hairs per square inch on a sea otter’s foreleg >1,000,000 (humans have 100,000 on their
entire head)
● Average number of hours spent foraging each day by central California sea otters = 9.5-12
hours (40-50 % of 24 hours)
● Sense most used to locate prey (especially in dark or turbid water) = touch (paws and
whiskers)
● Prey on which sea otters are most likely to use a tool = sea snails, clams, and mussels
● Predominant cause of death for CA sea otters = bite from Great White Shark (~60 % of
mortality, 2017)
● Primary reason for listing of CA sea otters as "threatened" in 1977 under the Endangered
Species Act = Risk of oil spills

From Sea Otter Savvy