All of today's California sea otters descend from the tiny Big Sur colony. Sea otters have been protected by law since 1911 and are protected as a threatened species under the 1972 Endangered Species Act. Sea otters eat many kinds of invertebrates, including clams, snails, sea stars, sea urchins, crabs, squid, octopuses and abalone. Alaskan sea otters also eat fish, but California otters seem to prefer invertebrates. Aquarium researchers have discovered that each otter has its favorite foods-wild otters often hunt for only two to four of the more than 40 food animals on their menu.
Mothers teach their pups to forage, and pups learn to hunt the same prey as their mothers.
Some scientists think this may let more otters share the same habitat, because different otter families are hunting different types of prey. Without blubber, otters lose a lot of heat to the water. A 50-pound wild otter must eat about 13 pounds of food a day, just to stay alive. Because of their hefty appetites, otters sometimes come into conflict with people who fish for sea urchins and abalone. They can dive as deep as 330 feet and stay under as long as five minutes.