Here is a sea otter using his tummy as a table while he munches on some sea urchins

Today I want to write about one of the most fascinating animals in the world, the sea otter.

Here are five interesting facts about them:

1. These beautiful animals are the smallest marine mammals in the world, measuring just 148 cm long.
2. Most marine mammals rely on a layer of blubber to keep them warm, but sea otters don’t have any.  Instead, they have the thickest coat in the animal kingdom, with 100,000 hairs per square cm.
3. They live around kelp forests and tie themselves to kelp when they sleep so that they don’t float away with the current.
4. They are excellent swimmers and can dive up to 75 metres down to catch mussels, crabs and sea urchins.  They have a small flap of skin in their armpits that they store their food in while they swim to the surface.  They then float on their back, using their tummy as a table while they eat.  They also use stones to smash open hard shells.
5. Sea otters live in coastal areas along the north Pacific Ocean.  They were once hunted in great numbers for their fur, but have recovered since hunting was banned in 1911.

I hope that you found these facts interesting and learned something new.

Are there any other interesting facts that you would like to share about sea otters?