recently, we got an annual pass to the Monterey bay aquarium- which is a super cool spot in cannery row. in all of our previous visits to the aquarium, we enjoyed the jelly fish the most, but over the last few months, we have become obsessed with sea otters. the aquarium has an excellent otter exhibit with some very sill and playful otters.
and when we get obsessed on something, we go all in. otter toys,
otter books, homemade-otter-playsets, and otter movies. the aquarium has an awesome movie about otters. and along the way, we've learned a lot about otters. here are some fun otter facts:
// otters have the world's thickest fur.
its over a million hairs per square inch. this is why the otter population is so low- their pets made for excellent winter coats. since their fur is so thick, its very buoyant- which allows otters to easily float on their backs:
otters seem to prefer to be in the water, on their backs. they even sleep in the water, on their backs. sometimes they hold hands so they don't float away from each other.
other times they wrap themselves up in kelp to stay in place during a nap:
since their fur is so thick, they spend most of their time cleaning the sea-gunk out of it. but when you watch them it looks like they are constantly washing their face.
// otters use tools.
otters don't eat fish. which is surprising to me, because I thought that everything eats fish, but otters don't. but they love clams and sea urchins. so to get the clams open, otters will bang the clam against a hard surface like a boat or a rock to get to the meat. you should look this up on youtube. its hilarious.
a lot of otters will just rest a rock on their belly and wack a clam against it to get the clam open. they rest their food on their bellies to make a built in tv tray for their food.
otters even have a secret pocket under their arms where they can keep their favorite clam-cracking-rock or a sea urchin for later.
// otters protect the kelp forest.
sea urchins eat the kelp forest, and otters eat sea urchins. if the otters disappear, so will the kelp forest. that makes them a keystone species.
// otters take parenting very seriously.
otter moms teach their babies how to do everything: how to dive, how to crack shells, and how to survive on the shores of California. if an otter baby is separated from its mother, it needs to get help quick. the aquarium has some foster otter moms who will teach lost babies how to survive in the wild.
// otters are pretty much the cutest thing in the world.
they are super-playful, mischievous, super-social, super-curious, and they do a lot of hugging. they're funny and fun to watch.
when we go to the aquarium, we pretty much just find a good spot in front of the otters and we are entertained for quite a while. I would really like to have one for a pet, but they can get to be over 50lbs, and they play really rough with each other. and I don't have a giant water tank.
but if you get the chance to see them in Monterey, or out in the wild in morrow bay, take the opportunity. they're super-cool animals.
God is love.
-rev-rob
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