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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.
They are found on all continents except Antarctica and Australia, and are a diverse family; sizes range, including tails, from the widespread 17 cm (7 in) least weasel to the 1.8-meter (6 ft) giant otter of Amazonian South America. Habitats vary widely as well, from the arboreal marten to the fossorial European badger to the marine sea otter.
Kelp forests provide important habitats for many fish species, sea otters and sea urchins. Directly and indirectly, marine coastal ecosystems provide vast arrays of ecosystem services for humans, such as cycling nutrients and elements, and purifying water by filtering pollutants. They sequester carbon as a cushion against climate change.
This list follows the Society's taxonomy regarding and subspecies. Conservation status codes listed follow the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (v. 2014.3; data current at 19 January 2015 [2]) and are clickable to link to IUCN Red List species pages.
Once on the verge of extinction, the recovery of the sea otter is considered one of the greatest successes in marine conservation.. The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal living near the shores of the North Pacific, from northern Japan, the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka east across the Aleutian Islands and along the North American coast to Mexico.
However, during the winter and in colder environments, fish consumption is significantly lower and the otters use other resources for their food supply. Their diets can consist of amphibians (mainly frogs and pond turtles), bird predation (mainly anserine species), small rodents , and invertebrates such as water beetles, snails, and crayfish.
An otter rescued in 2001 began the program's surrogacy efforts, in which adult female sea otters that have been rehabilitated but cannot be released act as surrogate mothers to stranded sea otter pups. The aquarium was the only sea otter rehabilitation site in California until The Marine Mammal Center began expanding a program for sea otters in ...
Federal wildlife officials have taken the first step toward potentially reintroducing sea otters to their former habitats in Northern California and Oregon. Sea otters were hunted to near-extinction.