How Big Are Sea Otters? #shorts

#seaotter #kpassionate #shorts
How big are sea otters? They are smallest marine mammal in the ocean but still the world’s biggest weasel. Closely related to minks, badgers, and wolverines… sea otters outweigh them all.

Learn more about why marine mammals are all larger than their land counterparts here: https://youtu.be/YhqZCDSQ3rA

The ocean is cold, much colder than the necessary body temperature of a mammal. And heat loss is 27 times faster in water than in air. And the bigger you are the more heat you retain. But when you're small, you lose heat back into the water so fast that the only way to generate enough heat to stay warm… is to eat. A lot.

Sea otters are a great example since they’re the smallest marine mammal and the only one without a layer of blubber. While they have the densest fur coat in the animal kingdom, it isn’t enough to keep sea otters warm. Instead, they generate a massive amount of body heat just by eating. Their metabolic rate at rest is about three times higher than that of similar sized land mammals. Every single day a sea otter will eat a quarter of their body weight. So a 40 pound sea otter will eat 10 pounds of clams, crabs, and mussels in one day.

All the sea otters in this video are rescued animals. They were assessed by government agencies, such as the NOAA and the Department of Wildlife, and determined that they lacked the skills necessary to survive in the wild and so they were deemed non-releasable.

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent Metro Parks Tacoma’s positions, strategies, or opinions.

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