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Sea Otter

Tim Rucci

Member
Just felt like sharing this photo that I shot in the harbour in Homer, Alaska. We had been on a whale watching boat and saw this guy floating around in the harbour upon our return.
He was diving for oysters then surfacing and floating on his back while prying them open and eating them. We watched him for quite a while repeating this same exercise over and over.

I caught this facial expression at one point and thought it was pretty cute. Shot with a Canon 1DX and 500 f4 lens at f11.

SeaOtter_Homer_1DX25128Ex.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Seems so cute and cuddly!

25998509-85B4-4792-9B00-B03595B914C1.jpeg

I wonder whether “Sea World” and the like, ever trained them for tricks and entertainment?

Asher
 

Jim Olson

Well-known member
Just felt like sharing this photo that I shot in the harbour in Homer, Alaska. We had been on a whale watching boat and saw this guy floating around in the harbour upon our return.
He was diving for oysters then surfacing and floating on his back while prying them open and eating them. We watched him for quite a while repeating this same exercise over and over.

I caught this facial expression at one point and thought it was pretty cute. Shot with a Canon 1DX and 500 f4 lens at f11.

View attachment 6079

EE32A681-5A44-4C76-8C61-99D746796DE9.jpeg

So cute!!!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Importance of Sea Otters:

“Sea otters are a keystone species, meaning their role in their environment has a greater effect than other species. As top predators, sea otters are critical to maintaining the balance of nearshore ecosystems, such as kelp forests, embayments and estuaries. Without sea otters, sea urchins can overpopulate the sea floor and devour the kelp forests that provide cover and food for many other marine animals. By maintaining healthy kelp forests, sea otters also indirectly help to reduce levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a prevalent greenhouse gas, as kelp absorbs and sequesters carbon.

Hunted to near extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries, sea otters finally gained protections with the signing of the International Fur Seal Treaty of 1911. In the 1970s, they received additional safeguarding under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. Worldwide, sea otters have slowly recovered but still stand far below their historical population numbers. While sea otters are vulnerable to natural environmental changes, their populations are significantly impacted by several human factors as well.”

Read more here!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Tim,

Your beautiful sea otter is a miracle of survival. In the most northern oceans, the whales have consumed 90% of them.

in San Francisco, they have recovered the hunting decimation of the past, but can’tspread out because of voracious sharks that devour those that venture forth!

We should populated some sheltered areas like around Long Beach, CA, where they have built protections for the big trading vessels! I will ask if that’s possible. That would be a fun project for me!

Just because of the spark from your single picture!

Asher
 
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