Guide of SEA OTTER

OTTERNET.COM - Homepage
If you are looking for information on otters, you've come to the right place! Otternet has a wealth of interesting facts on otters.
Otternet is the largest resource on the Internet for otter information.
We have in-depth species profiles giving you tons of information on all 13 species of otter.
We also have habitat overviews for the five continents otters live on; there you can find which otters live in each country, what the threats to them are, and their conservation status.
Otternet was formed to help educate people on otters - providing a wealth of facts not found anywhere else on the web, including a comprehensive Links page.
Many species of otter are either threatened or endangered.
Otters, once sought after for their fur, are making a comeback in some areas.
Although there is still the threat of illegal poaching, otters are faring better than earlier this century due to the assistance of many organizations throughout the world.
Inhabiting five of the continents of the world, Otters are truly amazing mammals.
For instance, Otters are the only marine mammals to have fur instead of blubber.
There are thirteen species of otters alive today.


SEA OTTER

OSPR Sea Otter
My CA Search DFG Sea Otter Research The Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center (MWVCRC) staff have a number of projects related to the recovery of the southern sea otter listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Davis Wildlife Health Center , United States Geological Survey/Biological Resources Division (USGS/BRD), and the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) in a study of the survival of sea otter pups that are orphaned, raised in captivity and released and comparison free-ranging animals.
A separate serosurvey of adult animals is comparing exposure rates to various infectious diseases.
The combined efforts of employees of the USGS/BRD, CDFG-MWVCRC, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Friends of the Sea Otter , U.C.
Davis graduate students, and other groups work together to complete the spring 2000 range wide sea otter count done twice per year.
The spring 2000 survey of 2, 317 California sea otters indicates an overall increase by 10.9 percent since the 1999 spring survey of 2, 090 individuals.
At the same time more dead sea otters are being found than ever.
For more information on what you can do to help go to our web page 'Reporting a Live/Dead Sea Otter '.

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info: SEA OTTER


Photo by www.seaside-adventures.com

Monterey Bay Whale Watch - Sea Otters
Monterey Bay Whale Watch - Sea Otters Click on small picture below to see full-size photo (size 21K).
Sea Otters of Monterey Bay Sea otters are a common sight along the Monterey coast as they inhabit the nearshore kelp forests.
The otters, which were once nearly hunted to extinction, now number just over 2, 000 individuals.
Sea otters are easily observed on all Monterey Bay Whale Watch trips as they rest within the kelp or feed near the kelp on seastars, crabs, urchins, and abalone.
After the otters capture a prey item, they bring it to the surface, place it on their belly while floating on their back, and crack it open with their powerful teeth.
Sea Otter Resting in Kelp Otters have very dense fur, with up to a million hairs per square inch.
Therefore, otters could easily be threatened by any type of oil spill which could foul their fur.
Besides spending a portion of the day grooming, otters divide their time into feeding and resting.
Otters usually rest by rolling within the surface kelp until their bodies are wrapped in it.
The kelp is anchored to the rocky bottom and by staying with the kelp, the otters will not drift to sea while sleeping.
During mating or courting bouts, a male and female otter will pair up and remain together for several days.

Benefits



Sea Otters: Surfing the Net with Kids
Sea Otters Email this page to a friend with a personal message .
Unlike whales and sea lions that rely on a layer of blubber to keep them warm in the icy North Pacific Ocean, the sea otter is protected by its thick fur.
While we humans have between 20, 000 to 100, 000 hairs on our heads, the sea otter has from 600, 000 to a million hairs per square inch.
It's this luxurious fur that made the sea otters so attractive to trappers, who brought the otters to near extinction until stopped by the International Fur Seal Treaty of 1911.
Fish and Wildlife Service placed sea otters on the Endangered Species list.
Friends of the Sea Otter (FSO) is an advocacy group dedicated to actively pressuring state and federal agencies, not only to maintain the current protections for sea otters but to increase and broaden these preservation efforts.' Best multimedia clicks are the Online Videos, Sea Otter Vocalizations and Sea Otter Illustrations.
Monterey Bay Aquarium: Focus on Otters The history of the sea otter along the Pacific coast has been tumultuous.
Once thought to be extinct from excessive nineteenth-century hunting, today's California sea otters are all ancestors of a family of fifty sea otters that survived along the inaccessible coast of Big Sur.

SEA OTTER: