Mama Sea Otter is ready for her close ups! Here are some fun facts about sea otters and my thoughts on creating this doodle design: The first close up doodle shows Mama Sea Otter's baby wrapped in kelp and chilling in her tail on the water's surface. Sea otters are all fur no blubber. Their fur is so thick and insulating that they don't need blubber to keep warm. They constantly groom themselves to create air pockets in their fur and that keeps them insulated and warm. When their fur gets damaged from oil spills and/or pollution, they can die from exposure to the cold. Sea otter pup’s are born in the water. Pup's can't swim or dive but, after being groomed by their mom, they can float. When the mama sea otter needs to go hunt for food, she wraps her pup in kelp to prevent it from drifting off. In the second close up, can you spot the the kelp crab, mussels, sea urchins, brittle star, and kelp? Sea Otters are the perfect protectors of Kelp Forests. Sea otters eat the fish and shellfish that eat kelp. Even if they eat a piece of it, Sea Otters can't digest it. Along with being a food supply and home to many fish and shellfish, Kelp forests protect coastlines from erosion from wave damage and, like other trees and plants, are important to carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. If you have seen Blue Planet 2, can you spot the Garibaldi Damselfish being territorial and picking up a sea urchin. In the last close up, I put mussels and abalone in the armpit of Mama Sea Otter.
One of my favorite facts. Sea otters have loose skin under their arms that act like pockets. They hold food or their favorite rock. When they are floating on their backs, they take out this rock and put it on their stomach and use that rock to crack open clams, crabs, and other shellfish. One of the last hidden creatures is the giant kelp fish is hiding in the sea weed/ Mama Sea Otters fur. Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed this weeks close ups! Comment below if you have any questions or comments. For more facts check out these website: For Sea Otter Facts: https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/species-of-concern/southern-sea-otter/ https://seaotters.com/sea-otter-conservation/ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/marine-mammals/southern-sea-otter https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/s/sea-otter/ https://defenders.org/wildlife/sea-otter https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/species-of-concern/southern-sea-otter/ https://aquarium.org/a-sea-otters-toolkit/ Book: National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals North America Kelp forest: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/visit/ecosystems/kelpdesc.html https://frontierscientists.com/2013/10/sea-otters-kelp-forests-helping-you/
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Artist and Blogger
I'm just a doodling artist. My current style started in a lecture class at MCLA where I began doodling in my notebooks. Now I've started a new series focusing on animals. Archives
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