Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A sea otter using a rock to break open a shell. The sea otter, Enhydra lutris, is a member of the Mustelidae that is fully aquatic. Sea otters are the smallest of the marine mammals, but they are also the most dexterous. Sea otters are known for their ability to use stones as anvils or hammers to facilitate access to hard-to-reach prey items.
Sea-otter pelts were given in potlatches to mark coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. [70] The Aleuts carved sea otter bones for use as ornaments and in games, and used powdered sea-otter baculum as a medicine for fever. [205] Some Ainu folk-tales portray the sea-otter as an occasional messenger between humans and the creator. [206]
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.
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 giant otter has a handful of other names. In Brazil it is known as ariranha, from the Tupi word arerãîa, or onça-d'água, meaning water jaguar. [6] In Spanish, river wolf (Spanish: lobo de río) and water dog (Spanish: perro de agua) are used occasionally (though the latter also refers to several different animals) and may have been more common in the reports of explorers in the 19th ...
The return of the sea otter could help bring them back to life. Kelp forests north of the Golden Gate are in dire shape. The return of the sea otter could help bring them back to life.
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.
As a 17-year old male sea otter, Riro was roughly the age of a 70-year old human. [2] On 27 December 2024, Riro began losing his appetite and was taken off exhibit. His condition worsened and he died on 4 January 2025. [9] With Riro's death, Marine World Uminonakamichi's sea otter exhibit, dating back to 1989, came to an end. [1]