Sea Otters

Sea Otters

          Sea otters are the second smallest marine mammals, and are part of the weasel family.  Instead of blubber to keep them warm, sea otters have a thick and dense fur, in fact the densest in the animal kingdom, that helps keep water out and keep them warm.  Sea otters are predators, and are keystone species for kelp forests, which are the habitat for many rare aquatic creatures.  If sea otters are not present, then the kelp forests would be overrun with sea urchins, which predate on kelp and don’t  have many natural predators other than sea otters.