@biologist_in_training: 🦦Sea otters are one of nature's few tool-using marine mammals. They often use rocks to crack open hard-shelled prey like clams, mussels, urchins, and crabs. 🦀 They eat roughly 25-30% of their body weight every day. Without the blubber layer of most other marine mammals, sea otters rely on this intense diet to help maintain body heat in cold waters. 🐾Sea otters are a classic example of a keystone species. In places like the Elkhorn Slough, they help keep eelgrass ecosystems healthier by feeding on crabs. Without otters, crab populations can increase and disrupt the balance of the food web, ultimately affecting organisms that support eelgrass growth. We still see the long-term effects of otter loss in parts of California, where much of our kelp forests have vanished. In part, because that keystone species the sea otter is missing. The cascade in kelp forest ecosystems led to an explosion sea urchin populations. These urchins can overgraze kelp forests when not kept in check. In contrast, recovering otter populations in regions like Monterey Bay show how quickly ecosystems can rebalance when top predators return. #seaotter #mammalmondays #wildlifeeducation #funnyanimals

Ari

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Tuesday 19 May 2026 03:57:15 GMT