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- Courtesy of USGS
Sea otters are the smallest and most recently evolved of all marine mammals. There are three subspecies: the southern (California) sea otter Enhydra lutris neresis; northern (Alaska) sea otter E.l. kenyoni; and the Asian sea otter E. l. lutris.
Facts and Features
- Geographic Distribution
Subspecies dependent. Southern sea otter: along the coast of northern California to central California; northern sea otter: along Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain to Prince William Sound and south to Washington State; Asian sea otter: Kuril Islands and along the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
- Amazing Facts
Save the Sea Otter: The southern sea otter population is still threatened and its growth is almost stagnant. In September 2006 the California Legislature passed a bill commonly called the Save the Sea Otter Bill. This bill is designed to reduce sea otter deaths from nonpoint pollution and human interference. It increases fines for harming sea otters to $25,000; provides for developing water and waste water treatment technologies for pathogens and other factors affecting the longevity of sea otters; etc. To reduce flushing of cat litter and cat feces in toilets, it requires that all litter (including the so-called flushable type) sold in California be labelled with two ways to dispose of it other than flushing. It is anticipated that this labeling will reduce the transmission of the parasite carried by cats, Toxoplasma gondii, and transmitted to otters in which it can cause fatal disease.
- At the Aquarium
Our three sea otters, Charlie, Brooke, and Summer, were found stranded on the beach when only a few days old; in fact, Charlie still had his umbilical cord attached. After rehabilitation at a marine mammal care center, it was determined that they could not survive in the wild and they came to live at the Aquarium. Charlie, sucks his paw as he sleeps. Brooke likes to hide toys in her "pocket". Summer throws tantrums. She is also a screamer.