ATLANTA — Ever seen a sea otter have its teeth brushed? How about get an eye exam? Both are regular occurrences for the five Southern sea otters that call the Georgia Aquarium home.
"They're a wonderful species," animal trainer Bryan Martin told wsbtv.com's Nelson Hicks. "And they're here as ambassadors for all the sea otters and they're very playful, energetic, very smart and engaging."
The Georgia Aquarium's sea otters were rescued off the California coast. There are two sets of them; the adults, Oz and Gracie, are 17 and 13 years old and there's a trio of 4-year-old sea otters named Bixby, Cruz and Brighton, too. Experts believe Brighton was either orphaned or prematurely weaned from her mother in the wild, while Bixby's and Cruz's mothers died from shark attacks.
Oz is the biggest of the group, tipping the scales at 65 pounds. And keeping that weight isn't easy.
"Sea otters are the only marine mammal that don't have blubber, or a thick fat layer," Martin said. "So, they rely on eating a lot, about 25% of their body weight every single day. They have a high metabolism, a lot of body heat, so they need a big fluffy, nice clean coat to keep them warm."
"They have about a million hairs per square inch just to keep the water from touching their skin," Martin said.
Sept. 21-27 is Sea Otter Awareness Week, a week designed to show the vital role sea otters play in the ecosystem. As a keystone species, sea otters play an integral role in the health of the oceans. They help maintain the balance among thousands of kelp forest inhabitants. Sea otters also act as an indicator species, meaning their high rates of disease may be a warning for both marine ecosystems and human health.
To help the plight of the sea otter, the aquarium noted public awareness and education are imperative. Currently, they are listed as "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List and are protected by the Endangered Species Act and The Marine Mammal Protection Act. By becoming an advocate for sea otters and other aquatic life, individuals can make a difference by protecting and saving the marine environment that sea otters call home, officials at the aquarium said.
Sure, the sea otters are loads of fun to look at on a visit to the aquarium, but Martin and his co-workers spend countless hours training these sea otters not for entertainment, but to encourage behaviors that allow trainers to better study them. And the things they uncover through that study will benefit the sea otters that remain in the wild.
"The things that we're able to learn through our five sea otters here and the other otters at other institutions can definitely help us when we are doing health assessments and population assessments and looking at the population of those free-ranging sea otters," Tonya Clauss, chief veterinarian at the Georgia Aquarium said.
See Graice, Oz, Bixby, Cruz and Brighton on your next trip to the Georgia Aquarium. For a much intimate meeting, don't miss the Sea Otter Encounter.
WSBTV
