10 Amazing Sea Otter Facts

sea otter facts
Tagged Sea Otter: photo by Cherilyn Chin

Here are 10 Amazing Sea Otter Facts:

1. Sea Otters are one of the few animals that use tools. They mainly use rocks, but have been seen using glass soda bottles and cement blocks.

2. Newborn pups cannot sink or dive.

3. Sea Otters have built in pockets under their arms.

4. A group of Sea Otters resting together is called a raft.

5. Sea Otters are the only marine mammal without a layer of blubber (fat).

6. Sea Otters’ fur has 10x # of hairs per square inch than we have on our entire head. (humans 100,000; otters 1,000,000)

7. Sea Otters’ teeth are strong enough to bite through the spines of a sea urchin, or crunch a clam shell open.

8. Wild adult Sea Otters eat 25% or more of their body weight a day, or more than 12 pounds of seafood. A 150 lb human would need to eat 37 lbs of food a day!

9. Sea Otters’ diets can consist of: crabs, mussels, clams, scallops, abalone, sea urchins, octopus, squid, snails, sea stars, and fat innkeeper worms.

And the last sea otter fact is:

10. Sea Otters’ only marine predators are humans, great white sharks, and killer whales.

Click here for “10 More Amazing Facts About Sea Otters”

Facts compiled from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s book, Sea Otters by Marianne Riedman

For more information on Sea Otters see my previous post on Joy and Toola, Surrogate Sea Otter Moms Extraordinaire
and My Unforgettable Moment with Mae, the Sea Otter Mom at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Also visit:
Sea Otter Awareness Week
Twitter: #seaotterweek
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s
Sea Otter Research and Conservation Program (SORAC)

Friends of the Sea Otter
Seaotters.com
Olive the Oiled Otter Facebook Page