General Facts
Sea Otters in the United States are usually found in Alaska and California. In California, they are an average of four feet, and in Alaska are slightly larger. Females are about forty-five pounds, and males about sixty-five while in Alaska they can grow up to one hundred pounds. Males live from ten to fifteen years, while females live from fifteen to twenty years.
Fun Facts
- They are smart! They find food underwater and bring it to the surface to eat, floating on their backs and using rocks as tools, break apart the shellfish. They also use rocks to pry abalone shells off rocks.
- To help them carry food to the surface, they have built in 'pockets' or flaps of skin in their front legs.
- Unlike most marine animals, the sea otter has no blubber to keep them warm - instead they have extremely dense fur, almost one million hairs per square inch.
- Only marine mammal capable of flipping over boulders to uncover food.
- Also the only to catch fish with their paws and not their mouths.
- They aren't picky - eating over one hundred different species. And for good reason - they need to eat twenty-five to forty percent of their body weight daily just to keep warm.