Have you heard about the sea otter and its amazing fur that nature beautifies it with? I will tell you a lot today about it and take you through an in depth study on the economic importance of its fur both to itself and to nature.
ABOUT SEA OTTER
The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine animal and its found in the northern and eastern north pacific ocean. Adult sea otter weighs about 14 to 45kg but they are still among the smallest of the sea animals. Although the sea otter can walk on land but they capable of living exclusively in the oceans too. The sea otter is the heaviest member of the weasel family and they have an amazing insulating system which is their fur, and this forms our discussion topic today.
SEA OTTER'S FUR
Unlike most aquatic animals, the sea otter does not depend on a bubbler layer to keep it warm but rather nature so beautified it that it has a very thick fur which is one of the thickest of all in the animal kingdom and this fur serves a great function both to the animal itself and a greater economic value.
The sea otter spends most of its life time in the marine environment and at so it needs to be insulated from the cool environment to maintain its internal environment, its fur is very thick and helps to trap water in some of its layers thereby preventing water from coming in direct contact to the skin, it then makes the surface warm thereby keeping it body temperate. This is very amazing and a very unique feature that is being possessed by the sea otter.
The sea otters fur has two layers and when dry its about 1.5 inch long. The first layer is found close to its skin while the second is found on the periphery. It is this layer that helps to trap air which helps the sea otter to stay insulated even when in cold environment.
SEA OTTER'S FUR AS A LIFE JACKET
One of the amazing features of the sea otter's fur that makes it to be highly desired is that it helps to increase the buoyancy of the animal. Due to the layer of air which is trapped inside the fur, the sea otter can easily float when in water bodies. In addition to this it can also swim heavy objects from the bottom of the ocean to the top and this characteristic is very distinctive.
The sea otter has been hunted over the years that its almost extinct now and it is one of the first animal that some states like califonia had to protect by law.
The sea otter is one of the most amazing creatures i have ever known.
