How do sea otters sleep? Sea otters: interesting facts

The sea otter (kalan) lives in the tropical and temperate zone of the Pacific coast of South America. With all the measures taken to protect these animals and their legal protection, hunting for them continues today. They continue to be destroyed due to fur and skin, except as competitors in the production of shellfish and fishing.

Description

This is the smallest otter of the genus Lontra. It has a cylindrical, dense, elongated body, strong and short paws. She has fur with hard thick hair, an undercoat up to 12 mm long, an outer hair of up to 20 mm. Sea otters, the photos of which are presented in this article, keep the underlay dry even when they are already wet. There is no fat stock.

The head of the animal is flat, round with rounded, low set, small ears, located on the sides of the head. Short wide muzzle with very long sideburns, thick, short neck wide with head. Small round eyes are highly planted, with an excellent view.

The tail is conical in shape, thick, muscular. Five fingers with strong sharp claws on the paws, have webbeds. In the sea otter, the front paws are shorter than the hind legs. Nostrils and ears close when immersed in water.

Teeth are large, adapted to tear the prey.

Enemies

Their main enemies are killer whales (killer whales). Young animals are also hunted by sharks, sea predators and birds.

Food

Sea otters are omnivorous, they produce food in the tidal zone. An animal's ration includes crabs, mollusks, water birds, fish and other organisms that live in the sea. It happens that it goes into the rivers, looking for freshwater shrimp. During the ripening of fruits eats the fruits of plants of the family bromeliads.

Behavior

Sea otters are secretive and timid animals that lead a daily life (although periodically the otter can be active at dawn and dusk). In the water, they spend up to 70% of their lives, while doing food and hunting. Swim, putting the upper back and head.

Its prey is caught by an average of 300 m from the coast, submerging 30-50 m, while diving in the thickets of algae and near the rocks. Dive lasts up to 30 seconds. This species does not use stones for breaking shell shells.

Despite the fact that the sea otters are mostly aquatic animals, they periodically travel along the shore, moving away from it by 30 m, although when hunting for the prey they leave for 500 m. Animals on land do not bad climb on rocks. They like to relax in the vegetation on the shore, located near the water.

In the otter, the den is a burrow and a tunnel, where one of the lavas leads to the thickets. At a time when she does not hunt, she rests in dense vegetation. "Houses" are used for childbirth, feeding offspring, sleep and rest. Sea otters like to lie in the sun, for which they are comfortably arranged on rocks. Their burrows and rookeries they arrange where you can easily find food.

How the sea otters sleep

In the summer when, when animals spend almost all of their time in the water, the way they sleep is incredibly touching. The cubs sleep at the mother's breast, gently touching her chin with her head, and the adult sea otters keep their paws behind each other. Of course, this is not love at all, it is a necessity - while the animal is asleep, it can be attributed to the sea current very far. But how touching this plexus looks!

If the animal hunts alone, it prepares itself a kind of anchor while sleeping. The otter spins for a long time in seaweed, thus winding them on its body, and then calmly falls asleep in such an original "cocoon".

Social structure

The animal leads a solitary life. It should be noted that the average population density is up to 10 otters per kilometer of the coastline. Periodically, animals are found in groups of 2-3 individuals, but not more. Mostly they settle at a distance of 200 m.

These animals are not territorial, they refer, without any aggression, to the appearance of new individuals of their species on the site. Several females can easily get along on a common site, including hunting grounds, burrows and rest places. Periodically, otters are labeled with feces and urine of the den and rock, but more often they defecate where they rest.

Reproduction

Little is known about him, and the facts that science has managed to establish, by different observers are interpreted ambiguously. Basically sea otters are monogamous, but in places of their large congestion (with abundance of food resources), it is often possible to observe the development of polygamous relations. During mating and the formation of pairs, males between males are often observed, as well as a struggle between pairing pairs.

The appearance of puppies takes place in a hole in the den. The female has 2 pairs of nipples. Often, the family changes the shelter in search of better places for food, the parents in this case carry the cubs in the teeth or swim on their backs on the sea, keeping them on their belly.

Offspring

The female gives birth to 2 puppies (sometimes 4-5). Lactation lasts for several months. Youth with parents remains ten months. At the same time, the adult generation brings cubs food and teaches them to hunt.

Benefits for man

As already mentioned at the beginning of the article, for many years the sea otter was persecuted by a person because of her skin and fur, and also killed as a competitor in the production of shellfish and fishery. An animal caught at a young age is very easily domesticated, trained, and also used by fishermen in the future.

Population

It should be noted that the sea otters were included in the CITES Convention documents and the International Red Book, but hunting continues despite the laws adopted to protect the species.

A threat

• Active harvesting of seaweed growing on the shore (especially for laminaria).
• Contamination of shores with heavy metals.
• Loss of permanent habitat, as the growing tourism industry entailed the development of water sports, increased coastal construction, etc.
• Persecution by fishermen who see a rival in the sea otter.

Take care of wildlife!