The sea otter (sea otter) lives in a tropical andtemperate zone of the Pacific coast of South America. With all the measures taken to protect these animals and their legal protection, hunting for them continues today. They continue to destroy because of the fur and leather, in addition, as competitors in the extraction of mollusks and fisheries.
Это самая маленькая выдра из рода Lontra.It has a cylindrical, dense, oblong body, strong and short legs. She has fur with hard thick hair, an undercoat up to 12 mm long, and a guard hair up to 20 mm. Sea otters, photos of which are presented in this article, keep the subtree dry even when they are already wet. There is no fat reserve.
The head of the animal is flat, round with rounded,low set, small ears, located on the sides of the head. A short wide muzzle with very long sideburns, a thick, short neck wide with a head. Small round eyes set high, with excellent visibility.
The tail is conical, thick,muscular. Five fingers with strong sharp claws on the feet, have membranes. At the sea otter, the front legs are shorter than the hind ones. Nostrils and ears close when immersed in water.
Teeth large, adapted to tear prey.
Their main enemies are killer whales (killer whales). Young animals are also hunted by sharks, marine predatory animals and birds.
Sea otters are omnivorous, they get food intidal zone. The diet of the animal includes crabs, mollusks, aquatic birds, fish and other organisms that live in the sea. It happens that it enters the river, looking for freshwater shrimp. During the ripening period, the fruit eats the fruits of the bromeliad family.
Морские выдры – это скрытные и робкие животные, who lead daytime life (although occasionally otter can be active at dawn and dusk). In the water, they spend up to 70% of their life, while engaged in obtaining food and hunting. Swim, putting the upper back and head.
The animal catches its prey on average 300 m fromcoast, plunging 30-50 m, while diving into the thickets of algae and near the rocks. Immersion lasts up to 30 seconds. This species does not use stones to break the crustacean shells.
Although sea otters are mostlyaquatic animals, they periodically travel along the shore, moving away from it to 30 m, although when pursuing prey they go 500 m. Animals on land climb the rocks well. They love to relax in the vegetation on the beach, located near the water.
At the otter, the den is a burrow and tunnel,where one of the Lazy leads to the thickets. While she does not hunt, she rests in dense vegetation. "Houses" are used for childbirth, feeding offspring, sleeping and resting. Sea otters are very fond of lying in the sun, for which they sit snugly on the rocks. They arrange their burrows and rookeries where they can easily find food.
In the summer when, when the animals are practicallythey spend all their time in the water, the way they sleep looks incredibly touching. Cubs sleep with their mothers on their breasts, gently touching her chin with their heads, while adult sea otters hold their feet together. Of course, this is not love at all, it is a necessity - while the animal is sleeping, it can be attributed by the sea current very far. But how touching this plexus of paws looks!
If the animal hunts alone, it is on timesleep is preparing itself like an anchor. An otter turns in seaweed for a long time, thus winding it on its body, and then quietly falling asleep in such an original “cocoon”.
The animal leads a solitary life.It should be noted that the average population density is up to 10 otters per kilometer of coastline. Periodically, animals are found in groups of 2-3 individuals, but no more. Basically they settle apart from each other at a distance of 200 m.
Эти животные не территориальные, они относятся without any aggression to the emergence of new individuals of their own species on the site. Several females can easily get along in a common area, including hunting grounds, burrows and resting places. The otters periodically mark with feces and urine of the lair and rock, but most often they defecate where they rest.
Little is known about him, but the facts thatscience was set to establish, different observers interpreted ambiguously. Mostly sea otters are monogamous, but in places of their large accumulation (with abundant food resources), one can often observe the development of polygamous relations. During mating and pairing, fights between males are often observed, and there is also a struggle between mating couples.
The appearance of puppies occurs in a hole, in a den.The female has 2 pairs of nipples. Often, the family changes the shelter in search of the best places for food, the parents in this case carry the cubs in their teeth or swim on their backs over the sea, keeping them on their belly.
The female gives birth to 2 puppies (sometimes 4-5).Lactation continues for several months. The youth with parents remains ten months. In this case, the adult generation brings food to the young and teaches them to hunt.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, for many yearsthe sea otter was stalked by man because of its skin and fur, and also killed as a competitor in shellfish mining and fishing. An animal caught at a young age is very easily domesticated, trained, and later used by fishermen.
It should be noted that sea otters were included in the documents of the CITES Convention and the International Red Book, but the hunt for them continues, despite the laws adopted to protect the species.
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