The Rare and Shy Marine Otter

Explanation: Silent, rare, and shy but curious is this pair of marine otters hiding among a tangle of bull kelp. We are on the Pacific Ocean side of Chiloe Island in southern Chile, South America, out just past the surf line in a small skiff, motoring around some coastal stacks.

Marine otters tend to stay more on land than do their sea otter cousins that occur further north. As with sea otters, marine otters have been hunted for their pelts, and are now listed as endangered. Although population numbers are imprecisely known, current threats are mainly from human development of coastal environments that is significantly reducing and fragmenting the species' habitats and populations along their range from coastal Peru to Cape Horn in far south Chile, and in isolated spots in Argentina.

This pair of marine otters remained mostly hidden in the kelp beds along the edge of these marine stack islands, only occasionally poking their heads out to see what we were doing.

Their diet consists of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and other marine life.

Marine otters will occupy dens often in caves, above the high-water line, along the coast where they can access feeding sites and be protected from predators. Thus, they avoid sandy beaches.

Stack islands along the Pacific Ocean coast of Chiloe Island,
southern Chile, home and habitat of the scarce and declining marine otter.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week