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Sea Otters
Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris), otter native to the American and
Asian shores of the North Pacific Ocean. Similar in appearance and in
aquatic habits to the Eurasian and North American otters, it is of sturdy
build and reaches a length of 1 to 1.2 m (3.3 to 4 ft). Sea otters feed
mainly on mollusks and sea urchins, which they crush with their large,
blunt teeth. Sea otters also regularly use rocks as tools to open shellfish
while swimming on their backs. The female gives birth to a single offspring
at a time, which she nurses while lying on her back in the water. The
sea otter is the only marine mammal lacking an insulating layer of blubber,
which serves to protect the animal from the frigid ocean waters. To compensate
for this lack of blubber, the sea otter must constantly preen its fur,
keeping it meticulously clean and allowing an insulating layer of air
to be trapped against the skin. When contaminated by oil, sea otters lose
the ability to protect themselves against cold ocean waters, since the
oil mats the fur, preventing the insulating air space from forming. In
addition, the sea otter will ingest the oil as it cleans its fur, usually
causing illness and death.
The pelt of the sea otter furnishes one of the most highly prized of
all furs. The brown inner fur is soft, dense, and woolly and is overlaid
by the coarser and longer gray-tipped hairs of the outer fur. Once abundant,
sea otters were hunted almost to extinction during the first half of the
20th century. Subsequent protective measures increased their numbers along
the coasts of California and Alaska. Scientific classification: The sea
otter belongs to the family Mustelidae of the order Carnivora."Sea Otter,"
Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright
(c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
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