Understanding Sea Otter Rafts: A Clever Defense Against Predators

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You’ve likely seen those heartwarming images of darling little sea otters floating on their backs with their tiny hands clasped together as they bob along the waves. It’s super cute of course, but why exactly do they do it? Surprisingly, this adorable behavior isn’t necessarily a display of affection. As you’ll see in this video, it is actually a rather clever survival strategy for a sea otter!

Sea Otter Rafts

The life of a sea otter is filled with dangers, from oil spills and pollution to devastating storms and habitat loss. As the video above shows, even a powerful wave could potentially spell disaster, especially for a sea otter mother and her pup. However, by staying together in groups, sea otters increase their odds of survival. Being very social animals, the sea otters in the video easily accept Spy Sea Otter into their group.

A group of sea otters is called a “raft”. There could be anywhere from a few dozen to even 1,000 sea otters floating together in a single raft. Sea otters prefer sticking close to one another, as predators are less likely to target a cohesive group. More sea otters also means more lookouts and a better chance of spotting potential threats quickly.

Hand Holding and Kelp Wraps

While heartwarming memes depicting sea otters holding hands have become quite popular across the internet, this cute behavior isn’t quite as common in the wild as you may expect. Some sea otters have been observed holding hands, but we don’t really know why they choose to do so — are they close friends or family members? Does it help keep their tiny paws warm? Or do they simply enjoy holding hands? While hand-holding likely does help otters stick together, it’s not their typically go-to method for connecting.

Instead of holding hands, sea otters usually snuggle up together or wrap themselves in a shared blanket of kelp or seagrass. These collective rafts of kelp or seagrass allow the otters to stay close and connected and avoid drifting apart. This is especially useful when it comes to enjoying a nice nap while floating along the ocean waves.

Sea Otters usually separate their rafts by gender — males form their social groups while females and their pups stick together. The raft featured in the Spy Sea Otter video above is a typical sea otter nursery, with mothers and their tiny pups nestled closely together on their chests. Similar to hand-holding or wrapping in kelp, this close physical contact ensures that the mothers maintain a secure connection with their pups while floating leisurely on their backs.

When a mother sea otter needs to hunt for food, she carefully wraps her pup in a protective blanket of seagrass or kelp to keep them from drifting away with the ocean current. Fortunately, sea otter pups also have a thick and buoyant fur coat. The mother sea otter blows warm air into her pup’s fur, which helps to keep them warm and stay afloat while she’s away.

Where Do Sea Otters Live?

Sea otters are much larger than their river-dwelling cousins. Sea otters in California reach 50 to 70 pounds, while those in Alaska can weigh up to 100 pounds. In contrast to river otters, sea otters must survive amid the chilly waters of the Pacific Ocean. That is why they are bigger and have an exceptionally dense coat of fur. There are three subspecies of sea otters:

• Southern sea otters live along the coast of central California.
• Northern sea otters live along the coasts of Washington and Alaska.
• Russian sea otters live in the waters off Japan and Russia.

Sea otters are mostly aquatic and spend nearly all their lives in the water. Southern sea otters, for example, live in estuaries and kelp forests. They love munching on sea urchins, which allows these lush kelp forests to thrive and support other organisms. Sea otters also eat crabs, which helps to keep eelgrass and sea slug populations healthy.