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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.
For larger, heavier-shelled prey, otters will sometimes exhibit tool-use behavior, breaking open sea urchins and mussels with a false stone used as an anvil. Sea otters can also bite sea urchins and mussels open using their strong jaws and teeth. Adults can crush most of their food items but youngsters have not yet developed powerful enough jaws.
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]
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 ...
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.
Sea otters have dexterous hands which they use to smash sea urchins off rocks. Otters are the only marine animals that are capable of lifting and turning over rocks, which they often do with their front paws when searching for prey. [61] The sea otter may pluck snails and other organisms from kelp and dig deep into underwater mud for clams. [61]
Southern sea otters along the West coast were hunted almost to extinction for their thick, soft fur, only gaining protection in 1913 when California declared them a "fully protected mammal." Even ...
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.