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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 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.
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 ...
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]
The sea otter uses rocks as essential and regular parts of its foraging behaviour (smashing abalone from rocks or breaking open shells), with some populations spending 21% of their time making tools. [214] Other tool use, such as chimpanzees using twigs to "fish" for termites, may be developed by watching others use tools and may even be a true ...
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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]
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.