Northern Sea Otters Research Paper

1271 Words6 Pages
The Enhydra lutris kenyoni, also known as the Northern sea otter is the smallest marine mammal in North America. These adorable critters live along the coast of Southern Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. They stay in the water for the majority of their lives but remain close to shores for the purpose of hunting. Their diet consists of mollusks and crustaceans such as clams, snails, crabs and abalone (abalone being their absolute favorite). Northern sea otters have many unique characteristics: they have to eat 25% of their body weight because of their extremely high metabolisms, they use rocks and wood to open shellfish which makes them the only marine mammal that uses tools, they lie on their backs and use their stomachs as tables when…show more content…
Their dense hair is to make up for the fact that they don't have any blubber so it acts as insulation to extremely cold water temperatures. However, this can quickly become compromised if their hair becomes too dirty and especially if any oil gets on their hair. Sea otters are often seen grooming their fur (about 15% of the day) – not only is it important to keep their fur extremely clean, it also creates air bubbles to help for insulation. Sea otters are unique for the fact that they don't show any signs of pregnancy. They typically give birth to one pup but occasionally they can have twins. Sadly, the mothers are only able to raise one pup at a time because of the large amount of food that is required to feed herself and her babies. The mother also carries the pup around with her for the first few months so she's only able to carry one at a time. Female otters are very compassionate and they will even care for orphaned pups that the other mothers aren't able to care for. In the case that a pup dies, the mother will make a sound that is similar to a human screaming and sometimes they carry the pup around with them for a few days before letting them
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