They ve got strong canines and strong molars to tear and crush their food. Their lung capacity is 2.5 times the size of land mammals of the same size. They have good eyesight and use their whiskers to sense vibrations in the water. They re known for the use of tools when eating. Because they love mollusks, sea otters will use rocks as hammers and anvils to help open the shells.
Sea otters prefer the temperate climate.
They also make their home among the kelp forests. There used to be a continuous distribution of sea otters but their thick pelts made them the favorite quarry of early fur traders in the 1700 s and 1800 s. Also contributing to the demise of the sea otter is pollution. Land otters were hunted extensively and became scarce. During an expedition to find a land passage between Asia and North America, Vitus Bering discovered the Aleutian Islands and Alaska.