As cute as they are, baby otters are also highly demanding, and moms carry the load. Mother otters teach pups how to groom themselves, to forage for tasty morsels like shellfish, to crack them open with a rock, to dive and even to swim. Baby otters hang around their moms for as long as eight to 11 months, compared to the mere four to six weeks that sea lions spend in their mothers’ care.
But what happens when juvenile white sharks attack female otters, mistaking them for blubbery pinnipeds? Or when bad weather separates mothers from their pups? The answer is an unfortunate population of orphan pups along the central California coast, with near-zero chance of making it.
“A five- to eight-week-old pup is not going to survive on its own,” says Erin Lundy, manager of conservation initiatives at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Unless another mother can step in…