Southern sea otter

(Enhydra lutris nereis)

Sea otters are the smallest marine mammals on earth. They have well rounded teeth adapted for crushing shells of crabs, urchins, and other invertebrates. They use rocks as tools to dislodge prey and break open their food and tend to stay in open waters gathering and "rafting" together in groups.

Size: Weight: 29kg Length: 1.5m

Lifespan: 23 years

Diet: They eat bottom dwelling invertebrates such as crabs, clams, urchins, squid and octopus.

Distribution: Over 80% of southern sea otters live within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Journey to Monterey Bay:

• Year round residents

You may not know...

• They have the densest fur in the animal kingdom – a million hairs per square inch.
• They wrap themselves in kelp while sleeping to stop themselves drifting away in rough seas.

Bixby (a.k.a. Otter 1346) is one of the otter mums out in the kelp forests of Monterey. She's only been known to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter Research and Conservation team (SORAC) for six weeks - but she's already shown remarkable maternal behaviour. She's believed to be about 5 years old and had her little pup on July 17th.

So far, we know mum likes to do some feeding in the harbour. Some days we see mum and pup swimming past the Monterey Bay Aquarium, heading down the coast, possibly going to find her feeding spot! Bixby's pup has had a turbulent life so far, being kidnapped by two other sea otters and being ransomed for food from Bixby! We'll update you throughout our filming about this remarkable duo.

Bixby is named after Bixby Estuary along California's Big Sur coast. This location is incredibly significant in the history of southern sea otters. It is the place where the last remaning southern sea otters were discovered in 1938.

Before then, southern sea otters had been hunted for their soft thick pelts and were thought to be extinct. From those few survivors found in Bixby estuary, the otter has increased its population to the numbers we see in Monterey Bay today.