Animals. The sea otter’s diet includes fish, crabs, molluscs, and sea urchins, and it has very strong teeth for crushing their shells. The otter’s diet consists of clams, mussels, crabs, squid, octopuses, sea urchins, sea stars, and fish, most of which are hard-shelled and need to be cracked open first. But what types of food do wild otters like best? Description. Sea otters love kelp forests, which are home to tasty treats like the sea urchins that otters retrieve from the ocean floor. 5. The otters have thick, hard fur of a brownish color, a light belly and a muzzle. Individuals are specialists, but can change their diet. Did you know that sea otters have tails for swimming. Have you thought about what the diet/habitat of an sea otter is? Clever creatures, they'll use rocks to crack open the clams. Otter Diet Problems. May 3, 2019 - Sea otters are intelligent and emotional mammals. Explore. Otters are fun creatures to watch and they are highly intelligent. Sea otters have awesome facts about them. Discover our favourite incredible otter facts, including facts about sea otters, perhaps the cutest of them all. All in all, the sea otter preys on at least 100 different marine species. According to Buzzfeed, (Apr 14) the first sea otter was found in 1751. Cute! Learning Colors! Sea otters can be found close to certain seas near Alaska, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and the country of Russia. Most otter species come ashore to give birth in dens, which sometimes have been used by other animals such as beavers. Their gestation period is 9 weeks and they can breed at any time of the year, although this usually occurs in spring. Most of us don’t know much about them so here are some facts to help you educate yourself about them. They are definitely meat eaters. They use their sea whiskers to find small creatures to eat, and their paws to dig for clams. Though they usually consume the entire fish, the animals may leave bones and other remains on homeowners' properties, which can attract other unwanted wildlife. Sea otters have small heads and eyes. It often becomes specializes in hunting one type of animal, depending on local food availability and the individual’s skills. It is also important to not confuse their home range with their territory. They carry rocks and store food in the loose skin under their armpits - who needs carrier bags! If a sea otter’s fur becomes dirty, it has trouble absorbing the air needed to keep it warm. They gorge on more than 100 different prey species. Read on and enjoy our interesting information about otters. The average otter is 1–1.3 metres in length, and weighs up to 9kg. Sealife . The sea otter also have webbed feet and hands. Check out our range of fun otter facts for kids. Sea otters eat around 25% of their body weight in food each day to support their high metabolism. How do sea otters hunt? Article from buzzfeed.com. It is also known to break open shells by hitting them against a rock that it balances on its stomach. If otters fascinate you, below are some interesting otter facts. They have very thick fur – near about 250,000 to one million hair per square inch. OTTER FACTS FOR KIDS! Sea otters are predators, and are keystone species for kelp forests, which are the habitat for many rare aquatic creatures. Sea urchins are carnivorous predators, eating mostly sea urchins. Sea otters typically show individual foraging specialization – which means an individual predominantly eats a select few species of prey. An adult North American river otter can weigh between 5.0 and 14 kg (11.0 and 30.9 lb). Diet | Consists of - mostly abalone, mussels, clams, crabs, snails, and about 40 other marine species. 13 amazing otter facts. Besides, they also prefer to eat crabs, large barnacles, mussels, snails, tubeworms, clams, squid, octopuses, chitons, scallops, sea cucumbers, sea stars and abalone. In fact sea otters may eat up to 25% of their body weight in food a day! Sea otter swimming in Resurrection Bay Alaska. Diet and Predators. Learn where the otter lives, what they eat, what a group of otters is called, the names of various otter species and much more. If not you're, going to find out! They will probably be wrapped in kelp beds. The male species of Giant Otter is between 1.5 and 1.7 m in length from head to tail and the female species is between 1 and 1.5 m. The well-muscled tail of the Giant Otter can add a further 70 cm to the total body length. 4. Otters.. Sea Otters Sea otters are the second smallest marine mammals, and are part of the weasel family. The kelp also provides cover from predators. Here are five fun facts you otter know: Sea otters have the densest fur in the animal kingdom, with up to one million hairs per square inch of their body! otters’ diet consists of hundreds of different types of invertebrates hiding on the ocean bottom. Look at the chart below to get a breakdown of the otter diet discovered by researchers in Glacier Bay. 1. Instead of blubber to keep them warm, sea otters have a thick and dense fur, in fact the densest in the animal kingdom, that helps keep water out and keep them warm. While Buzzfeed, (Apr 14) had found out that the number one reason that sea otters are dying is because of oil spills! Funny! Sea otters in captivity also like to play in car-wash strips, which simulate the kelp they’d find in the wild. Within these seas, they are usually found in the vicinity of the shore (which is typically rocky). Each individual otter has a favorite food in their diet, so to speak. Discover facts about sea otters, their died, conservation status, endangered, habitat, diet and more. Let's celebrate these adorable creatures! The sea otter spends most of its time in the water but, in some locations, comes ashore to sleep or rest. And that’s just cracking the surface of otter diet facts! Unlike most sea mammals, the sea otter does not have a layer of fat under its skin to keep it warm. The otter is a carnivorous mammal in a branch of the weasel family called Lutrinae. The primary diet of sea otters consists of aquatic invertebrates including crustaceans, sea urchins, mollusks and fish. Let's celebrate these adorable creatures! The babies sleep on their mother’s chest, touching the head to her chin, and the adult individuals gently but firmly hold each other’s front paws. 6. The river otter is protected and insulated by a thick, water-repellent coat of fur. Unlike other otters, having a soft undercoat, sea otters possess fur with thick hard hair. After catching fish, otters eat their prey on the shore. It can be fun to test out your knowledge as you go. The sea otter’s diet includes about 40 marine species, including urchins, crabs, clams, abalones, mussels, and snails. 5. Here are some interesting sea otter related facts for you. Their diet consists of roughly 80% fish, but they will prey upon birds, mammals and frogs if fish are in short supply. This can be up to 10 square miles though depending on where they live and how many people are in their raft. They will also be active in darkness, often foraging around midnight as well. They take a nap at mid-day during really warm weather. Top Facts about Otters. The Giant Otter of the sea can be heavy. The front hair has a length of 20 mm, an undercoat of 12 mm. Otters consume mainly fish but many people think that they eat plants and berries. The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), also known as the northern river otter or common otter, is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to the North American continent found in and along its waterways and coasts. These animals are most active from 10-11 am and from 3-5 pm. The structure of the fur allows the sea otter to keep the undercoat dry at a time when the animal is wet. The Giant otter was discovered by Gmelin in 1788. Sea otters eat 25% of their body weight in food every day. 7 FUN FACTS ABOUT OTTERS! That was pretty interesting so Buzzfeed, (Apr 14) had also found out that sea otters use rocks to get their prey out like shellfish.Ok that was awesome, right? Giant otters produce 9 different vocalizations and are very loud. However, this doesn’t mean an otter can’t switch or consume other types of prey as needed. 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