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The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean.Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg (30 and 100 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among [3] the smallest marine mammals.
An otter's den is called a holt, or couch. Male otters are called dogs or boars; females are called bitches or sows; and their offspring are called pups or cubs. [6] [7] The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature), or, when in water, raft. [8] [9]
Enhydra is a genus of mustelid that contains the sea otter and two extinct relatives. It is the only extant genus of the bunodont otters group, referring to otters with non-blade carnassials with rounded cusps. [1] Sea otters probably diverged from other otters during the Pliocene, approximately 5 mya. [2]
In California, only about 3,000 otters live along a 300-mile expanse from Half Moon Bay to Point Conception. There's a much bigger population in Alaska, and a few are still observed in Russia.
The return of sea otters and their voracious appetites has helped rescue a section of California marshland, a new study shows. Sea otters eat constantly and one of their favorite snacks is the ...
Sthenictis sp. (American Museum of Natural History). Mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The smaller variants of the least weasel can be under 20 cm (8 in) in length, while the giant otter of Amazonian South America can measure up to 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) and sea otters can exceed 45 kg (99 lb) in weight.
Santa Cruz's sea otter, 841, has given birth to a wee pup — suggesting that her erratic behavior could have been hormonally driven.
California's sea otters are the descendants of a single colony of about 50 southern sea otters discovered near the mouth of Bixby Creek along California's Big Sur coast in 1938; [26] their principal range is now from just south of San Francisco to Santa Barbara County. [27]