Who made this possible

Photographs

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Field note sources

The field notes are summaries in our own words. For details, quotes and data, please read the originals.

1. No. 01 — Holding on Lily Carey, “Sea Otters Hold Hands While Sleeping and They Even Cuddle”, Discover Magazine, 2024.
2. No. 02 — The stone in the pocket Law, C. J. et al., “Tool use increases mechanical foraging success and tooth health in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis)”, Science 384, 798–802, 2024. Summary: UC Santa Cruz News, May 2024. Forearm pouch: Monterey Bay Aquarium.
3. No. 03 — The urchin and the forest Estes, J. A. & Palmisano, J. F., “Sea otters: their role in structuring nearshore communities”, Science 185 (4156), 1058–1060, 1974. doi:10.1126/science.185.4156.1058.
4. No. 04 — Foster mothers of the slough Mayer, K. A. et al., “Surrogate rearing a keystone species to enhance population and ecosystem restoration”, Oryx, published online 2019 (vol. 55, 2021). Monterey Bay Aquarium, “A history of our Sea Otter Program”. Hughes, B. B. et al., “Recovery of a top predator mediates negative eutrophic effects on seagrass”, PNAS, 2013 — summary: ScienceDaily, August 2013.
5. No. 05 — Otter 841 and the surfboards “Surfboard-stealing otter not taking the ‘bait’ as wildlife officials try to catch her”, FOX Television Stations, July 2023. “Otter 841 gives birth to a pup”, NBC, 26 October 2023.
6. No. 06 — The Bishan Ten “A tale of two otters: settling in Singapore, suffering in China”, Mongabay, February 2018. Background: “Brief 100-year history of how native S'pore otters vanished, returned & became a national icon”, Mothership, 2020.
7. No. 07 — The last county “UK otter populations rebound two decades after near extinction”, Yale Environment 360, August 2011. “English otters back from brink of extinction”, Channel 4 News, October 2010 (Environment Agency fifth national otter survey, 2009–2010).
8. No. 08 — A giant in the Bermejo “Giant otter thought to be extinct in Argentina resurfaces, literally”, Mongabay, May 2021. “Giant river otter spotted in Argentina for the first time in decades”, Smithsonian Magazine, June 2021.

Fact cards and species list

• Fur density, daily food intake, forearm pouches, 1938 Big Sur survivors and current southern sea otter numbers: Monterey Bay Aquarium, “Sea otter”.
• Giant otter length: Smithsonian Magazine, 2021.
• Thirteen otter species: IUCN SSC Otter Specialist Group.

Text on this site © Coastline Archive. Spotted a mistake? The originals linked above are always the better authority.

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