Sea otters must also be able to defend themselves from the cold waters in which they swim.
2008. In this predator-prey relationship, the sea otter is the prey, and its population is directly impacted by the shark (Costa, 2011). Most sea lions aren’t picky eaters and … Sea Lions. Sea otters use rocks as tools to break open prey with exoskeletons or hard shells.
The sea otter has several natural predators from which it needs to protect itself. And for the sea otter’s case, when the ecosystem become unbalance and the number of its predator is higher than the number of sea otter it self, it means that sea otter will be no longer exist. Many of the sea otter's prey populations are in fact characterized by considerable temporal variation in abundance. Sea otters break open prey items with hard shells or exoskeletons with a rock. For instance, purple sea urchins in Monterey Bay recruit episodically, are superabundant following strong recruitment events, and are generally rare during the … The same rock is kept for many dives. The sea otters used such stones for about 20% of the mussels they consumed. Some otters hold the rock on their chest and drive the prey into the rocks. 2. And Levi has helped document how sea otters have increasingly become prey for wolves around Glacier Bay National Park. Alaska's Sea-Otter Decline Affects Health of Kelp Forests and Diet of Eagles.
Bald eagles, bears and coyotes will also eat sea otters. They eat about 25% of their weight in food each day due to their accelerated metabolism. USGS. Bald Eagle. The otter is both prey and predator, as it is predator to some animals and yet is prey to others. Additionally, many of the sea otter’s prey fluctuate substantially in abundance through time.
They open the shells of some of their prey, with stones and a piece of wood. Great white sharks and orcas will eat sea otters, especially if larger prey like seals and sea lions are not available. Great white sharks and orcas will eat sea otters, especially if larger prey like seals and sea lions are not available. Sea otters consume over 100 prey species. Floating on their backs, their bellies act as table-like surfaces on which to use the rocks.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(7):2242-2247; Laustsen, Paul. Sea otters must also be able to defend themselves from the cold waters in which they swim. Research has shown that sea otters are vital to the health of carbon-absorbing kelp forests. If there is a larger population of sharks in the area, the population of sea otter will be greatly affected. Sea otters eat sea urchins, abalone, mussels, clams, crabs, snails and other 40 marine species.
Bald eagles, bears and coyotes will also eat sea otters. However, with the decline in sea otter populations, bald eagles have to turn to marine fish. Otters often wash their prey by holding it against their body and turning in the water. 6. Sea lions are another major predator of sea otters. Some of the sea otter predators are orca, sea lion, and bald eagle. In response, bald eagles have had to adjust their foraging tactics and look for prey elsewhere. Predators and Prey of the Sea Otter The sea otter's diet includes about 40 marine species, including urchins, crabs, clams, abalones, mussels, and snails. This could repress population growth in an area with many sharks within the territory. They prey on sea urchins that feed on kelp. In most of its range, the sea otter's diet consists almost exclusively of marine benthic invertebrates, including sea urchins, fat innkeeper worms, a variety of bivalves such as clams and mussels, abalone, other mollusks, crustaceans, and snails.
Others leave the prey on their chests and hit the prey with the rocks. Their analysis identified that mussels were the most common prey eaten at the site and were the only prey for which the sea otters used stationary anvil stones. Sea otters eat about 25% of their weight every day, and is arguably the number one cause in sea otter deaths, when they cannot forage enough food… Regardless of the exact cause, such extreme individual variation in diet has broad ramifications for population and community ecology. This temporal variation, in conjunction with matrilineal transmission of foraging skills, may act to mediate the temporal dynamics of prey specializations. Oil spills. In environments where sea otter populations have been reintroduced, tall kelp forests are flourishing. Prey choice and habitat use drive sea otter pathogen exposure in a resource-limited coastal system. Asked in Otters The sea otter has several natural predators from which it needs to protect itself. As we all know, every animal has predator and prey. 4.
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