California sea otters were almost hunted to extinction by the start of the last century. Now a new program aims to pair stranded otter pups with surrogate mothers to help boost the population and save California's coastline.
California sea otters were almost hunted to extinction by the start of the last century. Now a new program aims to pair stranded otter pups with surrogate mothers to help boost the population and save California's coastline.California sea otters have the densest fur of any animal on Earth, with up to a million hairs per inch.
“In fact, on this coastline, it was thought that they were extinct, California coastline. In the mid-30s a remnant population was discovered just off of Big Sur of about 50 animals and by that point, they technically were protected under federal law. And so that remnant population over the last 80 years has gone from about 50 animals up to 3000.”Now, his team has partnered with Monterey Bay Aquarium in another fight for otter survival - this time to save stranded pups.
The new aquarium partnership aims to pair the baby otters with surrogate mothers, in the hopes of returning them to the wild. “Once they're 8 weeks and beyond they will be eating solid food and can dive and forage a little bit better - not all the way but a little bit better - and that is where an introduction to a surrogate mom should happen because that mom is going to teach them all of the behaviors that we cannot teach being people. They need to learn from otters and that is the best way to do it, is to pair it with an adult female.
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