Stranded sea otter pups paired with surrogate moms at California aquarium

Record ID: 1819161

  • Title: Stranded sea otter pups paired with surrogate moms at California aquarium
  • Date: 12th April 2024
  • Summary: LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 11, 2024) (Reuters) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR DIRECTOR, AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC, BRETT LONG, SAYING: "Sea otters are ecosystem engineers and so they're a keystone predator in their near-coastal environment so basically what that means is that they are a critical sort of predator in that system that keeps herbivores like sea u
  • Embargoed: 26th April 2024 21:10
  • Keywords: Aquarium of the Pacific California Long Beach Sea otters pups surrogate
  • Location: LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Environment,North America,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA004480412042024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Every year, around 10 to 15 sea otter pups are found stranded off the California coast, often because of storms separating mother and pup, according to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.
    It's partnering with Monterey Bay Aquarium to introduce surrogate mother otters to the stranded pups in the hopes of returning them to the wild.
    As part of the program, the aquarium has successfully bonded their first surrogate mom, called Millie, and a currently unnamed pup.
    "That mom is going to teach them all of the behaviors that we cannot teach being people," said Megan Smylie, the sea otter program manager.
    She added "That adult female will start to mimic behaviors that the pup should learn, will help it groom, will help it forage, will help it teach prey manipulation, how to open up shells and anything that they would need to know that humans are unable to teach them."
    California sea otters are a protected species. After being relentlessly hunted for their unique fur (they have the densest hair of any animal with up to a million hairs per inch), they were thought to be extinct until a colony of 50 was found off the coast of Big Sur in the 1930s.
    Now, the numbers are up to around 3000 but more are needed for not only the species' survival but also to protect California's near-shore ecosystems.
    "They are a critical sort of predator in that system that keeps herbivores like sea urchins in check so that sea urchins don't overpopulate and take out kelp forests and eel grass beds as an example," said Brett Long, a senior director at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
    Smylie added "This is super important because if those populations get out of control, then sea grass and the kelp ecosystems, they get destroyed and those are incredibly important ecosystems. They create biodiversity, they create protection against climate events and it is an incredibly powerful tool in carbon sequestration."
    But it's not cheap looking after sea otters. They fight off the cold with an "inner furnace" by eating 25 percent of their bodyweight ever day.
    Smylie said "For one year, every otter is about 40,000 dollars. That is a bill that the aquarium fronts themselves and so we are constantly doing fundraising and when guests come the aquarium and visit, a portion of those proceeds come to support these conservation programs."
    Otters are an internet favorite, with images of them holding hands and hugging often going viral. But they are not always as cuddly as they look.
    "I've worked with them for a long time and I have to admit that they're cute," said Long, adding "But them looking cute is not what their behavior is. They're in the weasel family, Mustelids, and they can be very... like badgers, weasels, wolverines, they're very territorial. They're water-based and so we don't interact with them a lot but even though they look cute and cuddly, they are just a wolverine in the water."
    Between them, the two aquariums have rescued around 8 stranded pups, but are hopeful other organizations will join in the program to help out.
    If they could do that, more otters would be able to join the population, and help protect the California near-shore ecosystems.
    "This is a bigger purpose," said Long. "This is a higher challenge and so we invest and we invest a lot but we've all now learned and appreciate, boy, you see that juvenile otter survive out in the wild. That feels incredible."
    (Production: Jack Ferry, Rollo Ross)
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