Otters

Alex Re

Hello,

welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you, we take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you, you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. I think you're really gonna like this episode. Today, you should definitely pack a change of clothes. Because we're heading into the semi aquatic world of otters.

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There are 13 different species of otters, all of which are semi aquatic. And this means that they spend some time on land and some time in the water. There are freshwater otters like the North American river otter, and there are also otters that spend their time in the ocean like the sea otter. Although most otters alternate between land and water, sea otters actually live almost exclusively in the water. And if you wanted to see an otter in the wild, you can go almost anywhere in the world. They're found on every continent except for Antarctica and Australia. And just by looking at their elongated body shape, you can tell that they're really closely related to weasels. A lot of people think that otters are these small, cute, cuddly creatures, but the giant otter can get up to six feet long. That means that if it were standing on its hind legs, it would be about a foot taller than Danny DeVito. And some other species can live to be about 12 years old in the wild, and even longer in captivity. Not only do they live for a decent amount of time, they've also been on earth for a really long time. There's evidence to suggest that otters have been around for over 20 million years. A lot of species of otters usually live in dens that were once used by other animals, and they can sleep in these dens or they can sleep on the water. And that leads to pretty cute behavior by them. If otters have to sleep on the water, they hold each other's paws in order to keep from floating away from each other. And this just shows that a lot of otters are very social creatures. Some species of otters live in groups that have around 100 different individuals. All otter species are carnivores, meaning they only eat meat. And they have a metabolic rate three times higher than what would be expected of an animal of their size. And this is mostly because their body has to spend a lot of energy keeping them warm, because they spend a lot of time in the water. And because their metabolism is so fast, they have to eat a lot of food to make up for it. otters have to eat around 30% of their body weight in food every day. And they eat so much that it causes a lot of health problems for them later in life. Many otters end up having digestive problems and tooth issues. otters eat a lot of different types of animals in the water. Giant otters usually eat fish, while sea otters usually eat a lot of marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, starfish, crabs and clams. And if you thought humans were special because we know how to use tools think again. otters can also use tools. A lot of the organisms that sea otters eat have hard shells that need to be cracked. But the otters have found a really interesting solution to this problem. what they'll do is float on their backs, put a rock on their stomach and smash a shell against the rock until it breaks open. It's not exactly an advanced tool, but it gets the job done. And sea otters actually have a large pouch underneath their armpits where they store their favorite rocks. When otters are hunting for their prey, they have really good eyesight, but they also have whiskers that pick up vibrations made underwater. And this really helps them locate prey, especially in areas where the water is murky and they can't see very well. Some species of otters have retractable claws just like cats, and they use that to snatch up their prey. Not only that, but they also have an extremely strong bite and sharp canine teeth in order to pierce through fish. But they don't use all their teeth for catching prey. They also use their front teeth in order to groom themselves. And this grooming process is really important and we'll talk about that later on the podcast. Although otters have all these really great adaptations to help them be the best hunters. They can also be the hunted. For example, killer whales are one of the biggest predators of sea otters. Alright, we're gonna take our first break. And when we get back, I'm going to start talking about why being so fluffy can actually help an otter survive in the wild. Time for today's trivia question. What is a group of crows called a a pack be a whole See a parliament or D a murder?

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The answer is D. A murder. Okay, so we're back. And I'm going to start talking about what makes otters so cute and cuddly. there for. Because otters spend a significant amount of time in the water, the temperatures can get really cold, and they don't have blubber to protect them like dolphins and whales, but they do have really thick fur. And their fur is denser than any other mammals. It's the main thing that's keeping them warm, and it's a lot thicker than human hair. And you would not want to be an otters hairdresser, because aside from it being really thick, their fur also has barbs on it kind of like microscopic spikes. And that makes it not smooth like a person's hair. And these Barb's trap warm air close to the otters skin, and that's what's actually keeping the otter warm. And because it traps these air bubbles, that's also a reason why otters are able to float while laying on their backs with such ease. And their fur also comes at a cost. It's harder for them to dive underwater because the trapped air is keeping them afloat. And remember how I said that otters go through a lot of energy every day. Well, a good amount of that energy is used for grooming. They have to spend multiple hours every single day just grooming their fur to keep it at the right condition. there for isn't the only important adaptation that they have. otters are very quick and agile swimmers and their body is perfectly designed for this purpose. They have elongated bodies which makes it so that there's very little water resistance when they're swimming. And they also have webbed feet and a long tail, which they use to increase their swimming speed and also to turn when they're in the water. And on top of all that they don't even have a clavicle bone, and this allows them to be really flexible. Sometimes an otters prey is really far below the surface of the water. Some otters can dive as far as 300 feet underwater in order to find their food. And this means that they need to hold their breath for a really long time. The North American river otter can hold his breath underwater for eight minutes. Scientists have found that otters and other marine mammals have a large amount of myoglobin in their bodies. And this thing called myoglobin is a protein in the muscles that stores oxygen. So the more myoglobin that they have in their bodies, the more oxygen they're able to store.

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otters also have a lot of interesting behaviors that you wouldn't really expect. First of all, their kind of clean freaks. Female otters are known for keeping their dens spotless. Playing is also a really important part of an honors behavior. otter parents have been observed to play with their young and they've been seen sliding across muddy patches or ice, kind of like a slip and slide. Playing with others helps otters build relationships with each other. And that's really important considering that most otters live in groups. One way that otters communicate with each other in these groups is through sound. Sea otters almost sound like birds and river otters are known to make purring sounds, which means that the otters are content. Another way that otters communicate with each other is through scent. Some otters have scent glands on their tails, and they use these glands to mark their feces with their scent. And they only go to the bathroom in a designated area called a latrine. So they're very particular about where they poop. And these scents that they leave behind can mean a variety of different things. Some researchers think that they use their scent to communicate to other groups of otters where their territory is. And also male otters can use their scent to attract a female and tell her that he's ready to mate. Speaking of mating otters usually made in the winter or the spring, and their babies are called pups. We already talked about how otters spend a lot of energy every day. Well, female otters that are raising pups spend around 96% more energy than those that aren't. And because of this, females with pups die at a much higher rate than those that don't have pups. river otter pups stay in the den on land for two months before coming out and being able to go in the water. And this makes sense because when the pups are born, they're completely blind. And sometimes they don't really want to get into the water so their moms actually have to push them in. Now that's what we call immersion therapy. A common behavior for sea otter moms, which makes really cute photos is to float on their backs in the water while their pup is resting on their stomach. And sometimes when the moms have to go gather food, they'll actually wrapped their pups in kelp to hold them in place while they leave. Remember that otters have that furred that traps air, which allows them to float. So otter pups don't have to worry about sinking to the bottom. Okay, so we're going to take our last break. And when we get back, I'm going to talk about why otters are so important to their ecosystem and what problems they're facing today.

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If you want to know more information about otters, or you just want to suggest a new animal for me to talk about, you can email on wildlife. dot podcast@gmail.com You can also visit our website@www.on wildlife.org. Okay, so we're back. Not only are otters adorable, but they're also really important to keeping the ecosystem intact. They control the populations of a lot of different animals, and without them, the food web would probably collapse. For example, one of the favorite foods of a sea otter is a sea urchin, and they help to keep the population of sea urchins down. When there are no sea otters to eat them, the sea urchins will eat all of the kelp in the ecosystem. Eventually, there won't be any more kelp. And kelp is really important because it provides shelter for a lot of organisms, including the otters. And it also keeps the ocean from becoming too acidic by taking in a lot of carbon dioxide. The latrines that otters make also helped to introduce nutrients on land that promotes the growth of plants. Needless to say, the habitats that hold these otters would most likely fall apart without their presence. And unfortunately, otters are in danger of becoming extinct. Most of the 13 species of otters are endangered or close to being endangered. And this is mainly because of two things. The first being that because otter fur is so thick, it's sought after to make fur coats, hunting otters, fur fur was bigger in the 1900s than it is now. But it's still a problem. Water Pollution is the second major problem that's hurting otters. harmful chemicals dumped into waterways can not only impact the health of the otters themselves, but it can deplete their food supply and make it harder for them to survive. Remember that otters need to eat a lot because they have such a high metabolism. If they're not eating every day, they'll probably die. But there are ways that you can help. And you can start by looking at some organizations that are already helping otters. Some organizations that you should check out our friends of the sea otter, international otter survival fund, and sea otter foundation and trust. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of otters. You can find the sources that we used for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference@www.on wildlife.org Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another episode. And that's on wildlife.

Jess Avellino

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with Alex re brought to you every Wednesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai