SPYING ON AN OTTER
"What's that?" I asked my wife while eating in a pier-side restaurant in Montery, CA, where we decided to spend a day visiting. We both watched this strange watery exhibition for about five minutes until we realized we were spying on a sea otter.
It was fun to watch this little mammal. She would dive and then come up with several items. At one point, she appeared with a sea snail and rock. She then laid on her back, placed the rock on her belly, banged the snail against the rock until it cracked open, and she could then suck the meat out.
After brunch, the otter used her paws to scrape her fur. Suddenly, she rolled over, landed on her back, and blew into her fur, flluffing it up until it was looking soft and airy. I guess, by going through this process, air gets into the fur and helps the otter keep afloat in the water.
After her gromming was completed, the otter swam briskly to some kelp. To our surprise we saw a baby otter sleeping in the kelp: which prevented the baby otter from floating away.
As the mother otter neard her pup, she swam slowly as not to wake him or her up. She glided through the wter as a canoe would on a motionless lake.
Then the mother dove into the water---the water was clear enough that we could watch her swim---and her smooth up and down propulsion reminded me of a whale swimming. She came out of the water, very quietly, next to her pup, looked at it for a few seconds, turned onto her back, reached for a ribbon of kelp, placed it over her belly, and went to sleep.
This whole episode took only twenty minutes, but a small crowd formed to watch the otter. The waiter told us that this mother otter, with her little pup, has been there every morning for the last six months. He went on to say, that after six months the little pup would be on its own, but would not leave the mother until eight months.
This was a good way to start a visit to the Monterey area. If you are down near the ocean and see some sea otters---"It's show time!"sit back and watch them.
