Sea Otter

SEA OTTER (Enhydra lutris) is the largest member of the weasel family. It inhabits coastal kelp beds from Alaska to California, spending almost all of its time in the water and feeding on SEA URCHINS, shellfish and SEA STARS. Its feeding patterns control the number of sea urchins, which in turn allows KELP to thrive. The sea otter has long moustache-like whiskers and often floats on its back. It is the only mammal, other than primates, that uses tools to feed: it grasps rocks and smashes shells open to gather food. Its thick fur coat is very dense, which helps keep the animal warm and buoyant; it is also black and lustrous, and at the end of the 18th century it became the most valuable fur on world markets, worth about 10 times as much as a BEAVER. The Russians called it "soft gold." As a result the sea otter was hunted almost to extinction (see FUR TRADE, MARITIME). By the mid-19th century, only remnant populations survived in Alaska, California and the QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. In 1911 an international treaty banned the killing of sea otter, but the last BC population had died out by the 1920s. Elsewhere on the coast, populations recovered slowly until 1965–72, when 89 animals from Alaska were relocated successfully to Bunsby Island on the west coast of VANCOUVER ISLAND. By 1995 the population was estimated to be 1,500 animals and their range had expanded from Bunsby to BC's central coast. Sea otter have been protected by law since 1970 and still are considered an ENDANGERED SPECIES.