I’m not really good when it comes to choosing favourites (specially if we are talking about animals). The number of animals I love is considerably large so choosing just one is kind of dificult. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this assignment I decided to pick the Sea Otter. I found out about the existence of this adorable animal after watching a documentary about them on cable (I can’t remember if it was on National Geographic, Discovery Channel or Animal Planet).
The sea otter is a marine mammal that lives in the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. They inhabit nearshore environments, they can measure from 1.0 to 1.5 m and weight from14 to 45 kg.
Otters are generally considered to be semi-aquatic animals since they spend some time in the water (mainly when they forage) and some time on land. But, unlike their relatives, sea otters spend almost all of their time in the ocean. One might think then that in order to keep their body warmth otters would have developed a very thick fat layer, but that is not the case. To do such thing they depend completely on their fur, which is actually the densest in all animal kingdom (they have up to 150,000 hair strands per square centimeter, this allows them to keep cold water away from the skin which reduces heat loss). It is due to the importance of their fur that otters spend most of their time grooming (they clean it, untangle knots, squeeze the water out of it allowing the entrance of air, etc...)
They prey upon marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans, and fish. A curious fact about them is that in order to dislodge their preys out of their shells they use rocks. This makes them one of the very few mammals that uses tools.
They don’t have a very complex social system. Each male has a particular territory wich he defends, and females can move freely between these territories. They also forage independently but form single sex groups when they want to rest. To keep from drifting apart when sleeping they may hold paws or wrap themselves in kelp (a type of seaweed).
In terms of reproduction otters are polygamist animals (a male can mate with several females), and both mating and birth of the pups take place in the water.
Sadly between 1741 and 1911 otters were hunted because of their beautiful fur. The hunt was so extensive that otter population fell from about 300,000 to near 2,000 individuals. Currently their number has increased considerably thanks to the fact that they are now a protected species and to several conservation effors. To protect and help with the resurgence of this species is something that I would love to do since the protection of endangered species is one of the areas that interest me the most about veterinary.
PS: If you feel like it and you have a little time... you can watch this incredibly cute video that shows two otters holding paws in an aquarium in Canada.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno
~
2 comentarios:
OMG, Do you like sea-otters too? What are the odds? There's another girl who picked up the same animal for her assigment.
I didn't know much about it, but your essay was revealing!
Cya Susi!
I’m not really good when it comes to choosing favourites (specially if we are talking about animals). The number of animals I love is considerably large so choosing just one is kind of SP dificult. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this assignment I decided to pick the Sea Otter. I found out about the existence of this adorable animal after watching a documentary about them on cable (I can’t remember if it was on National Geographic, Discovery Channel or Animal Planet).
The sea otter is a marine mammal that lives in the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. They inhabit nearshore environments, they can measure from 1.0 to 1.5 m and weight from14 to 45 kg.
Otters are generally considered to be semi-aquatic animals since they spend some time in the water (mainly when they forage) and some time on land. But, unlike their relatives, sea otters spend almost all of their time in the ocean. One might think then that in order to keep their body warmth otters would have developed a very thick fat layer, but that is not the case. To do such thing they depend completely on their fur, which is actually the densest in all animal kingdom (they have up to 150,000 hair strands per square centimeter, this allows them to keep cold water away from the skin which reduces heat loss). It is due to the importance of their fur that otters spend most of their time grooming (they clean it, untangle knots, squeeze the water out of it allowing the entrance of air, etc...)
They prey upon marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans, and fish. A curious fact about them is that in order to dislodge their preys out of their shells they use rocks. This makes them one of the very few mammals that uses tools.
They don’t have a very complex social system. Each male has a particular territory wich he defends, and females can move freely between these territories. They also forage independently but form single sex groups when they want to rest. To keep from drifting apart when sleeping they may hold paws or wrap themselves in kelp (a type of seaweed).
In terms of reproduction otters are polygamist animals (a male can mate with several females), and both mating and birth of the pups take place in the water.
Sadly between 1741 and 1911 otters were hunted because of their beautiful fur. The hunt was so extensive that otter population fell from about 300,000 to near 2,000 individuals. Currently their number has increased considerably thanks to the fact that they are now a protected species and to several conservationSP effors. To protect and help with the resurgence of this species is something that I would love to do since the protection of endangered species is one of the areas that interest me the most about veterinary.
PS: If you feel like it and you have a little time... you can watch this incredibly cute video that shows two otters holding paws in an aquarium in Canada.
Ale,
very interesting! I didn't know much of them either...
national alegraphic!
miss
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