California's sea otter numbers holding steady

When a sea otter wants to rest, it wraps a piece of kelp around its body to hold itself steady among the rolling waves. Likewise, California's sea otter numbers are holding steady despite many forces pushing against their ...

Veterinary researchers discover new poxvirus in sea otters

(Phys.org) —After studying unusual skin lesions seen in two orphaned sea otter pups, University of Florida scientists and their collaborators have identified a previously unknown poxvirus in the infected animals.

Energy demands of raising a pup push sea otter moms to the limit

Parents often complain that child-rearing is exhausting, but consider the poor sea otter mom. By the time a sea otter pup is weaned, its mother may be so depleted physiologically that she is unable to survive the stress of ...

Sea otters can get the flu, too

Northern sea otters living off the coast of Washington state were infected with the same H1N1 flu virus that caused the world-wide pandemic in 2009, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey and Centers for Disease Control ...

Bangladesh's otter fishing tradition faces extinction

Swimming in circles alongside a fishing boat, the excited cries of two short-haired otters ring out across a river in southern Bangladesh that feeds into the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.

US: Sea otters are recovered following 1989 spill

(AP)—A U.S. federal study of Prince William Sound sea otters affected by crude oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez has concluded that the marine mammals have returned to pre-spill numbers a quarter century after the disaster.

Animal forensics, DNA used to estimate river otter population

The restoration of Pennsylvania's river-otter population has been, by all accounts, a great success, and a study being conducted by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences will soon quantify the accomplishment ...

How healthy are Scotland's otters?

(Phys.org) —Scotland's otters are for the first time in 20 years to be included in a UK-wide study aimed at giving scientists an insight into the chemical pollutants threatening their health and the health of their habitat.

Loss of large carnivores poses global conservation problem

In ecosystems around the world, the decline of large predators such as lions, dingoes, wolves, otters, and bears is changing the face of landscapes from the tropics to the Arctic – but an analysis of 31 carnivore species ...

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