·
363 kb jpg
How often do sea otters go on land? Are they as nimble on land as their river cousins?
6 replies,
920 kb jpg
I think they're basically permanently in the water, they even sleep there.
33 kb jpg
After doing some research, they occasionally get on land in a process called hauling out. From what I can tell, they do it to get away from predators and to help warm up. Makes sense that getting on land would be warmer than the cold ocean water, and I can't think of any land predators in those regions that would target sea otters, so it seems like a good place to go and relax a bit
53 kb jpg
Hauling out? Isn't that what it's called when seals go on land? Idk, sea otters can kinda still walk, they don't really "haul", do they?
That's true, hauling might not be the best term. But I think it might be a general behavior applied to marine mammals, which would encompass both seals and sea otters. I'm far from an expert, this is just what I got from a quick Googling
Oh right, so it's a marine mammal thing. I wonder if it applies to other marine mammals? Maybe just those that live in the sea a majority of the time?
Wolves do hunt sea otters in Alaska, but they've only started doing this after all the deer disappeared.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/in-alaska-hungry-wolves-have-started-eating-sea-otters-180981509/

