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The sea otter population is thought to have once been 150,000 to 300,000, [24] stretching in an arc across the North Pacific from northern Japan to the central Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. The fur trade that began in the 1740s reduced the sea otter's numbers to an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 members in 13 colonies.
During the six-year interval, it was observed that while Clam Lagoon sea otter population remained relatively stable, population in Kuluk Bay decreased by a dramatic 76%. When taking into account the caloric needs of a killer whale, the study concluded that merely 5.05 attacks would have been required at minimum in order to lower the sea otter ...
The sea otter was once abundant in a wide arc across the North Pacific ocean, from northern Japan to Alaska to Mexico. By 1911, hunting for the animal's luxurious fur had reduced the sea otter population to fewer than 2000 individuals in the most remote and inaccessible parts of its range. The IUCN lists the sea otter as an endangered species.
Federal wildlife officials have taken the first step toward potentially reintroducing sea otters to their former habitats in Northern California and Oregon. Sea otters were hunted to near-extinction.
Most have sharp claws on their feet and all except the sea otter have long, muscular tails. The 13 species range in adult size from 0.6 to 1.8 m (2.0 to 5.9 ft) in length and 1 to 45 kg (2.2 to 99.2 lb) in weight. The Asian small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species and the giant otter and sea otter are the largest.
It is home to a growing, healthy population of southern sea otters, which were almost hunted into extinction by the early part of the 1900s. Today, ...
They were nearly hunted to extinction back in the 1700s and 1800s, and while the population has recovered, the number one threat to sea otters today are oil spills caused by humans.
Habitats vary widely as well, from the arboreal marten to the fossorial European badger to the marine sea otter. Population sizes are largely unknown, though two species, the sea mink and Japanese otter, were hunted to extinction in 1894 and 1979, respectively, and several other species are endangered.