Sea otters spend their lives in nearshore water, diving to the bottom for sea urchins, mollusks, crustaceans and some fish. They are among the few mammals to use tools, cracking shells with rocks. They have no blubber and stay warm with the densest fur of any animal.
They are a keystone species: by eating urchins, which would otherwise graze kelp to nothing, they keep kelp forests healthy. Hunting for fur between 1741 and 1911 shrank the world population to 1,000-2,000, and California’s population has recovered to about 3,000. An estimated 1,200 live within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Sea Otter Awareness Week is held in the last full week of September.