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The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northerners and easterners 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.
Most have sharp claws on their feet and all except the sea otter have long, muscular tails. The 13 species range in adult size from 0.6 to 1.8 m (2.0 to 5.9 ft) in length and 1 to 45 kg (2.2 to 99.2 lb) in weight. The Asian small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species and the giant otter and sea otter are the largest.
The marine otter (Lontra felina) is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family ().The scientific name means "feline otter", and in Spanish, the marine otter is also often referred to as gato marino: "marine cat".
There are only around 3,000 Southern sea otters today, living off the California coast. Sea otters are on the endangered species list and are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
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]
Rosa was adopted by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 1999 and served as surrogate mother for a record 15 otters. She outlived the life expectancy for wild southern sea otters.
The Seattle Aquarium became the first institution to raise sea otters from conception to adulthood with the birth of Tichuk in 1979, followed by three more pups in the early 1980s. [157] In 2007, a YouTube video of two cute sea otters holding paws drew 1.5 million viewers in two weeks, and had over 20 million views as of January 2015.
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.