Guide of SEA OTTERS

Could cat waste be killing sea otters? - March 15, 2003
Over the past 10 years, southern sea otters have been dying at an alarming rate, according to experts, who say emerging diseases, shark predation, pollution, and human interference are threatening the future of this ecologically important species.
Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center, the University of California-Davis, and the California Department of Fish and Game have teamed up to pinpoint the causes of the decline and have discovered that many sea otters are infected with disease-causing parasites, including T gondii and Sarcocystis neurona .
A recent study headed by UC-Davis and CDFG researchers found that 42 percent of live otters and 62 percent of dead otters were seropositive for T gondii .
Test results showed sea otters near large freshwater outflows were almost three times as likely to be infected with T gondii than otters at sites of low freshwater outflows.
"Sea otters generally live near the shoreline, so they would be directly in the path of these biological pollutants if they reach the ocean." .
Researchers have not ruled out sewage as a potential source of the parasites, but the study did not find a relationship between sewage exposure and infection in the otters.


SEA OTTERS

Sea Otters
Sea otters are the smallest marine animals.
And otters are different from other marine mammals, such as seals, and whales, because they depend only on their fur to stay warm in their cold ocean home.
Sea otters' fur keeps them warm by trapping a layer of air next to their skin.
What would happen to a sea otter if its fur were coated with thick, black oil? Oil tankers--ships that sometimes carry millions of liters of oil--sail up and down the Pacific coast from California to Alaska.
If an oil tanker wrecks, oil spills into the ocean, threatening otters and other creatures.
My friends and I began some research to answer two questions: 1) How does oil affect sea otters; and 2) can otters be cleaned and returned to the wild, if they become oiled? We discovered that when a sea otter's fur was oiled, the fur can no longer hold the protective air layer.
Without this air layer, the otters could not stay warm and would eventually die.
We needed to find a way to clean oiled sea otters so that the air layer could be restored.
We put a little bit of oil on sea otters and then tested different kinds of detergents to see which one worked best to remove the oil.

.

info: SEA OTTERS


BBC - Science & Nature - Animals - Children\'s Zone - Amazing Animals - Sea otter
Sea otter Sea otters have long, flexible bodies and often swim with three 'humps' showing out of the water.
It's thought that many sightings of sea monsters can be put down to these animals.
The sea otter is the smallest marine mammal, and the only one to use tools.
They inhabit the food rich waters of the north Pacific, where they swim and fish in the iciest of seas.
Sea otters have the warmest fur of any animal, with 126, 000 hairs per square centimetre.
The sea otter's reliance on its fur makes it very susceptible to oil spills, and the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska killed several thousand animals.
Sea otters feed on clams and sea urchins from the sea bed.
To crack open the tough shells, the sea otter pounds them against a stone which it balances on its chest.
Sea otters not only swim, eat and groom on their backs, they sleep on them too! By wrapping themselves in strands of kelp they are securely anchored in one place, and can float with the tide without being washed away.
The sea otter's nose, eyes and ears are placed high on its head so that it can swim almost submerged and yet still breathe, look and listen.
When it dives, a sea otter will close its nostrils and a protective membrane covers its eyes.

Benefits



Kenai Peninsula Online - Alaska Newspaper - Kids Page
The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) lives in shallow water areas along the shores of the North Pacific.
In 1742, Vitus Bering's men returned with sea otter pelts from the historic voyage of discovery of Alaska.
Interest in these rich furs initiated an era of exploitation which almost wiped out the sea otter.
The early Russian settling of Alaska was largely a result of the sea otter industry.
In 1867, when Russian exploitation had greatly reduced the numbers of sea otters, Alaska was sold to the United States.
Finally in 1911, when so few animals were left that it was no longer profitable to hunt them (in many areas they were completely exterminated), sea otters were given full protection under the Fur Seal Treaty.
In 1960, the state of Alaska assumed management authority for sea otters.
The management program conducted by the state included the successful reintroduction of sea otters to unoccupied habitat in Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington.
Recovery of the Alaska sea otter population has been dramatic.
Most of the sea otter habitat in Alaska has now been repopulated.
The principal exception is Southeast Alaska where numbers are increasing rapidly and otters are moving into new areas.

SEA OTTERS: