<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/sea-otters-reintroduction-coastal-ecosystem-climate/>
"The most seasoned ecosystem engineer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium sports a
distinctly white fur head and white patches on her back. At 24 years old, Rosa
is the oldest sea otter at the Aquarium. Since being rescued as an orphaned
four-week-old pup in Santa Cruz in 1999, she has played a crucial role in
supporting the sea otter population in California: over the years, she has
acted as a surrogate mom for more than a dozen pups that were found
malnourished and abandoned like she once was, showing them how to crack open
abalone and how to groom themselves. Unlike other sea mammals, baby otters are
entirely helpless without a mom, and they have to learn everything from scratch
if they are to survive in the wild.
Historically, between 150,000 and 300,000 sea otters once occupied the coast
along the North Pacific Rim from northern Japan in the northwestern Pacific to
Baja California, Mexico, in the eastern Pacific. Otters don’t just hold the
record for being the smallest marine mammal in North America, they also have
the densest fur of any animal on earth, with up to a million hairs per square
inch. (A human usually has less than 100,000 hairs on their entire head.) But
what helps them survive in cold water was the cause of their near-extinction at
the beginning of the last century."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
