Sea otters at the Sea Otter? Nonprofit works to protect species that’s namesake of festival. By Steve Shimek
sea otters eat way more. The average adult sea otter weighs somewhere around 40 pounds and eats 25 to 35 percent of their body weight per day. That’s the equivalent of 40 to 60 quarter- pounders or 110 to 150 granola bars. Sea otters have more hair. Even men who sport a thick man-pelt can’t compete with the hundreds of thousands of hairs per square inch on an otter. Unlike other marine mammals, sea otters have no blubber so their thick fur provides their only insulation. Like bikers, sea otters hide their tools in
W
strange places. Sea otters are one of the few tool-using animals on earth—using rocks to pound open shellfish. They carry their favorite rock in a fold of fur they pull up under their arm. One of the best ways to spot an otter is to listen for the clack, clack, clack when they pound a clam with their rock. And unlike mountain bikers at the Sea
Otter Classic, they are rare. In fact, sea otters were hunted to near extinction for their rich pelts—worth more than gold—in the 18th and 19th centuries. Millions of otters were killed and traded to China for silk and porcelain. The early
hat’s the difference between a mountain biker and a sea otter? Hard to believe, but
exploration of the Pacific Coast by the Ameri- cans, French, Spanish and Russians was due to the ruthlessly competitive seafaring trade in sea otter furs. Today the California sea otter population numbers only around 2,800, fewer otters than kids in a fair-sized high school, and California sea otters are listed as an endangered species. Their population has been slow to recover due to incidental by-catch in fishing gear and pollu- tion. Agricultural and other chemicals poison otters and weaken their immune system, and new diseases wash off land into the otter’s coastal ocean habitat. Just like mountain bikers visiting Monterey
for four days of racing, Sea Otters are important to the area’s economy. By eating sea urchins, otters promote healthy kelp forests, which are nurseries for commercially valuable fish. And researchers recently learned that by stimulating vast healthy kelp forests sea otters are one of the best ways to sequester greenhouse gasses and clean up the atmosphere. Monterey Bay is perhaps the prime place
in the world to see sea otters both in the wild and close up in captivity. A large group of otters generally rests near the shore in the lee of the north jetty of Moss Landing Harbor. Take High- way 1 north about 10 miles, cross the bridge
over Elkhorn Slough, turn left on Jetty Road and follow it about a mile to the end. If you are headed into Monterey, follow the
coastline into Pacific Grove just past Monterey Bay Aquarium. Between the Aquarium and Point Piños are many coves where you can often see otters, including mothers with pups. And if time allows, visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where you can get personally acquainted with sea otters.
Visit
www.otterproject.org to learn more
about sea otters or to contribute to their conser- vation.
Steve Shimek is executive director of The
Otter Project, a nonprofit dedicated to the recov- ery of the California sea otter. The Otter Project has no association with the Sea Otter Classic.
THE ALL NEW HONEY BADGER
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APRIL 18 - 21, 2013
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SEA OTTER
Photo by Jeff Foott, The Otter Project
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