Sea otters were nearly hunted to extinction in the early 20th century for their pelts, but thanks to conservation efforts, their numbers in California have rebounded from about 50 in 1938 to around 3,000. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has played an important role in this ecological success story, fostering abandoned otter pups for later release into the wild. Now the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is joining the initiative. It has its first orphaned otter, who is identified by the number 968.
Megan Smylie, manager of the sea otter program at Aquarium of the Pacific, explains that this pup was stranded north of Santa Cruz, then brought to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where staff did triage to stabilize her. At the start of February, the Aquarium of the Pacific received 968, and staff members have been rehabbing her with the help of their adult female otter named Millie, who is also a rescue.
Millie is serving as a surrogate mother to 968, teaching her ocean survival skills. The plan is to release 968 back into the ocean in late summer or early fall, Smylie shares.
“Millie is teaching [968] how to sufficiently groom her coat. The sea otter’s fur coat is probably their first and best defense at staying warm in the cold waters that they live in. … It's actually creating a waterproof barrier between their skin and the water, and it helps keep them warm.”
Smylie continues, “In addition to that, Millie's teaching 968 how to manipulate prey items. Here at the aquarium, we are offering … different types of prey for her to practice this. … Millie is bringing [968] food and offering it to her. And then teaching the pup how to play with the food and really manipulate those shelled items so that she can pull all of the meat and calories out of that prey.”
Smylie says that each day, the otters repeat a cycle: They dive to the ocean floor, gather prey items, return to the surface, and place those items on their chests to eat. The rest of their time is spent grooming their coats and sleeping.
An otter’s diet consists of crabs, mussels, clams, sea snails, and sea urchins. Their appetite serves an important purpose in California’s marine ecosystem, helping protect kelp forests from being overeaten by urchins. Kelp forests in turn sequester large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.
Currently, 968 is about 4.5 months old, and animals are usually released into the wild at 8-9 months old, Smylie points out.
“The timeline is arbitrary. We're really looking more for milestones. Can she take care of herself properly? That includes being able to manipulate all sorts of food items. And can she socialize properly? So her next big steps are going to be getting weaned from Millie at around 6 months of age, and then socialized with some other juvenile otters, which would replicate what she's going to experience out in the ocean.”
Why is California’s sea otter population not larger today? One reason: The animals are struggling to expand their territories. With climate change creating warmer oceans, white sharks are entering sea otter habitats, Smylie explains. “What we're finding is that the white sharks are not necessarily eating the sea otters, but there are cases of mistaken identity. And usually one shark bite is fatal to a sea otter.”
A second reason: the degradation of kelp forests which are sensitive to ocean temperature changes. Smylie says less healthy kelp forests means a change in the biodiversity and food availability for sea otters.
Right now, the surrogacy program doesn’t have a lot of capacity to handle the 10-15 California sea otters that get stranded each year, since both aquariums in Monterey and Long Beach can each only take four per year, Smylie points out. Thus, efforts are underway to expand the program.
