Like most of the animals at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the sea otters are rescued animals that can no longer survive in the wild. They have always been my favorite exhibit at the aquarium.
The good news about photographing sea otters at the aquarium is that you can get closer than in the wild. The bad news is that they’re behind thick glass. It only took about 30 attempts to get this one decent shot. As a comparison, check out this post of a momma and baby sea otter in the wild at Point Lobos from summer 2013.
Cool Facts About Sea Otters (Courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium)
- Sea otters have the world’s densest fur—up to a million hairs per square inch! (You have 100,000 hairs or less on your whole head.)
- Sea otters live in loose-knit groups called rafts. Otters in rafts often sleep side-by-side, wrapped in strands of kelp so that they don’t drift far from each other.
- Training and “enrichment” games keep our otters mentally and physically stimulated; they also make working with the otters safer for us and less stressful for them.