Sea Notes

The Otter-Shellfish Debate

Sea otters and shellfish lovers have always had an uneasy relationship.

People who like to gather clams at low tide, or dive for abalone -- or who make their gleaning sea urchins and abalone -- resent the presence of furry predators that can eat a quarter of their weight in shellfish each day.

On the other hand, sea otters are the charismatic stars of coastal waters wherever they live. And they're they're the linchpin of ecosystem health and abundance, too.

So there's tension, sometimes conflict, when sea otters and fishermen intersect.

That's what's happening now in Japan, where the tiny sea otter population off Nemuro, in eastern Hokkaido Island, is drawing oohs and aahs from tourists -- and grumbles from urchin fishermen.

"We can't remain calm, wondering whether sea otters are eating sea urchins," complained one.

Sound familiar? The same story has played out in California waters south of Point Conception, where commercial and sport fishermen want sea otters excluded from their historic range for fear hungry otters won't leave enough urchins and abs for people.

The federal government has dropped that approach, though the no-otter zone remains on the books. That's why some conservation groups are suing, so that sea otters can continue to re-colonize waters from which they were hunted to near-extinction by 19th century fur traders.

If history's any guide, the return of sea otters will be a boon to southern California marine life -- if not to shellfish divers.

Dr. Steve Palumbi, director of Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, has chronicled the recovery of Monterey Bay's coastal marine ecosystems and gives the lion's share of the credit to sea otters.

"In the early 1900s you’d see all these beautiful rocks but you wouldn’t see any kelp and you wouldn’t see very many of these birds and you wouldn’t see a lot of the other life that's really here because the kelp forest was gone," he said in a PBS documentary.

That's because the kelp had been devoured by sea urchins and abalones that flourished in the absence of their chief predator. When otters returned, so did the kelp forests -- and all the other marine life supported by those healthy forests.

The same story has played out in Alaska, where kelp forests wax and wane depending on how many otters are in the same waters.

Sea otters also bring tourists, who are happy snapping photos before eating (sustainably) farmed abalone at seaside restaurants.

A Picture-Perfect Otter

It's fair to say that sea otters are too darn cute. And that's when they're not doing anything unusual.

Sometimes they fly right off the cuteness chart. That's the case with Mae, one of our exhibit otters, whom visitor Bill Coggin recently caught slurping a drink from the fresh water spray we use to rinse the inside of the exhibit windows.

If you're inspired to say more than "Awwww!", click over the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Facebook page and write your own caption for the photo. We'll be offering prizes to our favorites.

A Profusion of Pups

Since this story was posted, even more pups have been born to surrogate-reared reared otters in the wild.

In mid April Karl Mayer, animal care coordinator for the Aquarium’s Sea Otter and Research and Conservation organization (SORAC), was out in Elkhorn Slough checking up on a very special pup. Just a few weeks earlier, the pup had been born to an otter, known only as 327, that had been reared behind the scenes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a welcome event—the fourth pup born to a surrogate-reared otter since 2008.

After briefly coming ashore in his small Zodiac, Karl decided to make another round of the Slough to check on other tagged otters. There, in a remote part of the Slough, he discovered another surrogate-reared otter, number 339, with a tiny pup of her own, born less than 24 hours earlier.

Correction: make that five pups born to surrogate-reared otters in the wild!

Eat, sleep, repeat

These very young pups lead lives of continuous coddling and sleeping. Lying on mom’s stomach, they’re painstakingly groomed. Afterward, it’s time for a nap. Occasionally, mom will leave her pup to float while she makes forays for small clams. After a quick snack—you guessed it: more sleeping.

Did I mention that these pups sleep a lot?

“At this point the female is conserving energy and doing a moderate amount of foraging, to allow the pup to eat and sleep,” says Karl. “She’s staying close to shore and living off existing energy stores.” But before long the pups will trade their fluffy coats for adult fur and start to follow their mothers on dives. “The mother and pup will become more of a functional unit,” says Karl, “and they’ll go for larger prey items.”

But for now, at least, everything is going according to plan. “The pups look healthy, bright and alert,” says Karl. 

Five pups and counting

Since 2005, SORAC staff have been raising and releasing stranded pups through the surrogate program. The goal is to evaluate surrogate-rearing by studying behavior and survival of pups after release. The hope is that these pups assimilate into the wild population, survive to maturity and produce offspring of their own.

 “With the surrogate program we’re establishing that the methods we use to rear stranded pups enables them to reproduce as part of the wild population,” says Karl. “And that means not just giving birth, but getting their pups through the dependency period and weaned. That’s our benchmark for our rehabilitation.”

There’s another benefit, too. Just having that many tagged animals in the wild (there are currently seven) provides a “great look at the permanent residents of the slough,” says Karl. “We can follow them for a long time. And we know that the group here is thriving, in contrast to some other groups in the area.”

And there may be even more good news to come. Karl believes there are at least two more surrogate-reared otters that could give birth in the coming months, providing even more SORAC success stories.

Sea Otter Sentinels

The Sea Otter Research and Conservation Program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is multi-faceted. We study the wild population to learn more about links between food preferences and health, we monitor rehabilitated and released animals to determine success following surgery, medical procedures and surrogacy-raising and we collaborate with partners to understand the causes of the sluggish growth of the population here in California.

However, the Southern sea otter is only one of three sea otters sub-species in the Pacific, and there's a lot to be learned about all three. That's why we are working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and a number of other partners in a new study that will study populations of sea otters throughout their Pacific coast range.

Scientists are interested in understanding the differences between animals who are impacted by interactions between land and sea - i.e. in areas of pollution, agriculture run-off etc. and those who live in more pristine waters but might be impacted by other factors such as climate change - sea level rise or ocean acidification (a result of adding carbon dioxide to our atmosphere, which is absorbed by the oceans and results in a lowering of pH.)

Sea otters are important sentinels of nearshore ecosystem health. They eat many of the things that we like to eat. Understanding their challenges will help us build a picture of what is happening to our coastal waters and may offer us insights into hidden dangers that could ultimately impact human health.

It's nearly the close of tax season - but if you are yet to file and live in California - you can help sea otters by donating a portion of your tax refund to the California Sea Otter Fund. Look for the option on your California state return.

Kit Goes to Summer Camp

Kit the sea otter pup has proven to be quite a personality since going on exhibit February 18. Thousands of visitors have enjoyed watching her play with enrichment toys, crawl into buckets, munch ice, and tussle with her nine-year-old companion, Mae. And she’s been eating like a typical adolescent, going from 15 to 22 pounds on exhibit. Pretty precocious pup!

But there are still a few sea otter skills Kit hasn’t mastered. For instance, she’s flummoxed by tightly closed clams and live crabs. And she won’t often go into the back of the exhibit where we can offer live food and do health checks.

So for all these reasons, Kit is being taken off exhibit for a while, starting April 5. There, behind the scenes, she’ll be able to interact with other otters and learn important life lessons. Don’t worry: she’ll be back—a little bigger perhaps, but as rambunctious as ever, and hopefully with a few more skills in her repertoire. 

In place of Kit and Mae, you’ll see two familiar and just as popular otters: Toola, who is 12-13 years old; and Joy, who is 11. Toola has been behind the scenes rearing another rescued pup, which has now been weaned. It will be great to have them back!

Kit a “Success Story”

Kit, found stranded in Morro Bay in early January, was the youngest otter pup ever to go on exhibit at the Aquarium, and she’s been a resounding hit. “It’s been very successful,” says Associate Curator of Mammals, Chris DeAngelo. “She really enjoys her enrichment sessions—she’s having a blast out there.” And her ravenous appetite is proof of her health and vitality. “She’s definitely at the high end of the growth curve,” says Chris.

But the long-term goal is for Kit to be a companion animal – or even a surrogate mother – and help raise other rescued pups.  To do that, she’ll need to be able to impart crucial otter survival skills. Foremost among these is the ability to eat live crab—a critical prey item for otters in the wild. “It’s an essential skill,” says Chris. “They have to invert the crab and handle it upside down or they’ll get pinched.” And for now, Kit just doesn’t get it. Chris hopes this will change once she begins to interact with other otters off exhibit, particularly Rosa, who is currently rearing a pup of her own. “Kit is also of an age that it will do her some good to be introduced to another female/pup pair,” says Chris. “That pup is only four weeks older than Kit—they’re close enough in age to enjoy wrestling and play time.”

One reason Kit isn’t learning to handle live prey is that Mae limits how often Kit goes to the back of the exhibit, where such feedings occur. Mae can be “overly protective,” says Chris. “She feels more secure on exhibit.” Sometimes Kit will start to go into the back of the exhibit, but “if Mae gets nervous, she will literally pull her out.” (To get a better idea of how this works, watch Mae “affectionately” drag Kit out of a kennel at the beginning of this video. That’s what friends are for!)

Kit’s temporary stay behind the scenes is all part of the normal rotation of otters at the Aquarium, says Chris. Otters routinely go off exhibit, to be companions to other animals, learn new skills, and most importantly, to rear pups for release to the wild as part of our Sea Otter Research and Conservation program.

“Kit’s just like our other otters,” says Chris. “She’s a permanent resident, so she’ll come and go as part of our normal social rotation.”
 

Kit Catch-Up

At 16 weeks, Kit continues to delight and amuse staff and visitors alike. Check out her recent St. Patrick's Day frolics, if you haven't already seen the video.

Daily feeding and training sessions continue. She's getting to know her name, and is associating being close to the deck as a good place to be if you want food thrown onto your belly-table. This is known as stationing. Right now, she's mostly following a visual cue for this. Later this will be paired with her name and the word "station."

She's also learning the command to go into our off-exhibit holding pool area. This is a place where our otters can have live food. It's also a safe place to hold them while maintenance divers are in the exhibit for house cleaning and other chores that the otters won't take care of! We never dive with our sea otters. If you've seen their teeth, or checked out their list of relatives (wolverines, weasels, etc.), you'll understand why!

This is pretty much the extent of our interactions with her at this point. Plenty for a young developing brain to work with. Most of her schooling really comes from her companion Mae, through mimicking her behavior.

One such behavior she's learning is the pounding motion sea otters use to break open invertebrate shells. Although at this point, young Kit is really just waving her arms around -- but that's progress too, as she's just getting her coordination together and use of fine motor skills.

Other things she's learned from Mae (somewhat less critical to survival) are sleeping with one paw in your mouth, the appropriate resting position for ice crunching and balancing on top of plastic buckets!

This is not to say that Kit is becoming a clone of Mae. Quite the contrary. She has a quite distinct and different personality from her mentor and certainly will complain quite vocally when Mae decides it's time to leave the holding pool and Kit wants to stay!

Kit's getting much more curious and eager to try out new enrichment items. She's getting much more comfortable with the two-legged items that deliver them too -- and is starting to see their arrival as the prelude to something edible, fun or interesting.

It's certainly never a dull day in the sea otter exhibit. Do stop by or check out the web cam soon!

Kit & Kaboodle

Today marks Kit's second week on exhibit and at sea otter school. So what has she learned so far?

She's doing well at learning how to be at her station at meal time. With nine sessions a day, running up to midnight, there's plenty of opportunity! Sessions after the Aquarium closes are held in a holding pool behind the exhibit. Here the girls can have live food. So far, Kit's just learning how to tackle clams. Crabs are a whole other challenge for later!

Kit is learning a lot by mimicking Mae. New toys and other items to interact with are given to Mae, who then passes them to the young pup to explore. This is ideal for our staff, who really want Kit to learn as much as possible through Mae, rather than from humans.

One thing they'd rather Kit not mimic is the way Mae sucks a paw as she sleeps. But guess what? That's exactly what Kit now does! It may not be what a biologist would want to see, but believe me, it sets your brain into cute overload.

Kit has also observed that Mae likes to stash food in her "pockets." Sea otters have an extra flap of skin under each forearm that serves as a place to store a favorite tool, or prey item of some kind. Kit likes to explore Mae's pockets and then help herself to a snack or two!

How about her own pockets? Well, she loves the ice treats that the otter staff put out for her and Mae. We often give our otters ice, as it not only makes an interesting crunchy treat for them, but they also like to lie in it. Kit loves to crunch ice, and when she's had her fill, she likes to load her pockets with some for later. Oh dear, there is much to learn about the world!

Kit Q&A

The Kit and Mae show continues! It seems like there are a lot of questions out there about this new pair, so we thought we'd get you some answers.

~ Is Kit a girl or a boy?

Although Kit is named after a male character in a Steinbeck novel, Kit is female. All of our six exhibit otters are female. Male sea otters are very territorial, and so a mixed-gender exhibit doesn't work too well. In addition, it is not permitted to breed southern sea otters, due to their threatened species status. A single-sex exhibit prevents accidents! Some zoos and aquariums have all-male exhibits, but most have all-female.

~ What's the relationship between Kit and Mae?

Although it may look as if Mae is acting maternally toward young Kit, she has not taken on the role of surrogate mother. This was to be expected, as Mae has not taken to surrogacy in the past! However, she has previously made a good companion to older pups, and our hope was that she would do the same with Kit.

Kit and Mae were introduced behind the scenes on February 15. Our intention was to try them for a few hours a day, until we could build up to an overnight. However, Mae's reaction to the young pup was so strong and so positive that they were never separated from the moment they met! We felt comfortable moving the two of them into the exhibit after only three days behind the scenes. And it's been an overwhelming success. We couldn't be happier with Mae's patience! A feisty pup can certainly wear you down.

You may see Mae carrying Kit on her belly, as shown in our photo above, and the two may be seen grooming one another. However, this is pretty much as far as the maternal-type behavior goes. A surrogate otter mom would be handing off food to her pup. If you watch Mae at feeding time, she is very happy to put down her charge and leave her belly fully available for food to be placed on it! However, this is good for us, as we want to teach Kit the behaviors she will need when the exhibit is fully ottered up. With potentially six animals in there, she'll need to know where her station is at feeding time!

~ When will Kit go back into the wild?

Unlike the pups we raise behind the scenes with surrogate moms, Kit will not go back in the wild. We have been given a special permit from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to raise her in our exhibit as a non-releasable animal. Our research over the last 25 years has shown that an animal raised by an otter mom has the best chance of success in the wild, and is most likely to successfully contribute to the future of the population -- i.e. breed. An otter raised by human caregivers is likely to imprint too much on people. Because we did not have a surrogate otter mom available when Kit was weaned from her bottle, she was placed with Mae as her companion. She will now live out her life as an ambassador for her species. Maybe one day she too will act as a companion or surrogate for a young otter.

Kit: The Movie (First Day on Exhibit)

Check out Kit, the youngest otter ever to go on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This video shows some choice moments from her first day on exhibit. Also available in HD on our YouTube channel!

Otterly Delightful

It's official. We're in cute Kit overload. Even the hardiest of our biologists who usually find species with a backbone to be over-evolved can't help admitting it. She's just darn cute and we all feel like proud grandparents.

So how did Kit's first day go in the big wild world of the exhibit? Amazingly well. Ever under the watchful eye of companion Mae, she explored every inch of the exhibit. Through the tunnels, into the "spa", apparently to an underwater region known by exhibit staff as the Pinnacles. With enormous effort and determination she hauled her little round hindquarters up on to the deck. She was everywhere, at all times, and no doubt Mae was hoping she'd nap more often so she could too, but it really was pretty much go most of the day!

One of our important goals in these early days is to get sufficient food to Kit and for her to learn how food is offered, and later how to make a meal out of live food. Right now, it's prepared for her, but learning the art of opening live food will be an important part of her development and we're hoping that she'll learn this from her cohorts.

But for now, it's important that food comes frequently. So we've moved off our regular scheduled sessions and are conducting ad-hoc sessions throughout the day. If you're used to seeing a 10-15 minute feeding and training session, this is not it! This is a couple of minutes of clam toss to two hungry mouths and a retreat.

Kit's progress, just in one day was quite astonishing. At an early morning feed, Mae took Kit as far away from the human as possible. Getting food to Kit was quite the challenge, even to Chris, associate curator of mammals who is an expert shot at landing food on the sea otter belly. Less than 4 hours later, Kit and Mae were lined up side by side at the edge of the deck and Chris plopped chopped clam after chopped clam right on their furry dining tables.

Visitors were just delighted to see the two, and couldn't believe how lucky they were to see Kit on her very first day in public. "We almost came yesterday," said one family, "we're so glad we got to see this special event." Many were amazed to learn that Kit and Mae had only met on Monday. "They seem like the best of friends already," one observed. Oohs and Aahs abounded. One woman squealed in delight. "I just can't help myself," she said. "she's beyond adorable."