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Sea otters commonly exhibit swimming behavior where they swim on their backs. The features which facilitate swimming on the back also facilitate tool use. Otters that do not use tools still feed on their backs. This habit of feeding on the surface with the chest up facilitates a flat surface for resting rocks and pounding items together (1). [3]
Sea otters also are members of the animal kingdom's tool-wielding club. The researchers observed 196 southern sea otters along the central California coastline - Big Sur, Monterey, San Luis Obispo ...
Sea otters will use rocks or other hard objects to dislodge food (such as abalone) and break open shellfish. Many or most mammals of the order Carnivora have been observed using tools, often to trap prey or break open the shells of prey, as well as for scratching and problem-solving.
A number of mustelids have aquatic lifestyles, ranging from semiaquatic minks and river otters to the fully aquatic sea otter, which is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to use tools while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack open the shellfish that form a significant part of its diet.
Sea Otters can swim up to six miles per hour and hold their breaths for up to four minutes. They use these skills to dive as deep as 330 feet beneath the surface. 4.
The sea otter's use of rocks when hunting and feeding makes it one of the few mammal species to use tools. [69] To open hard shells, it may pound its prey with both paws against a rock on its chest. To pry an abalone off its rock, it hammers the abalone shell using a large stone, with observed rates of 45 blows in 15 seconds. [29]
Experts are struggling to restore the U.S. West Coast’s southern sea otters to their historic range. The effort is part of growing global recognition of the crucial role that predators play ...
To eat large sea urchins, which are mostly covered with spines, the sea otter bites through the underside where the spines are shortest and licks the soft contents out of the urchin's shell. [86] The sea otter's use of rocks when hunting and feeding makes it one of the few mammal species to use tools. [88]