Newborn Sea Otter Monterey Bay California

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM, TIDE POOL, CALIFORNIA, USA

On December 21, 2015 at around 8:30am, one of the 3,000 remaining California Sea Otters in the wild was spotted with a newborn, floating in the tide pool right outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The umbilical cord was still attached.

Newborn Sea Otter Monterey Bay California

Newborn Sea Otter Monterey Bay California

At 10:09am, when we arrived, the mother was grooming her baby from head to toe over and over again. She did this until around 11:30am before heading out to sea with her pup.

Newborn Sea Otter Monterey Bay California

Around 11:30am, the sea otter returned to the vast Pacific Ocean with her tiny baby. Until the newborn learned to swim, the mother would wrap her pup up with kelp to keep it from floating away while she hunted.

Newborn Sea Otter Monterey Bay California

Knowing the pair would face many dangers in the wild, we could only wish them well as they floated farther and farther away. They reminded us how great motherhood truly is!

Monterey Bay California

This is the playground of the California sea otters from our perspective.

California Giant Kelp Forest

This is sea otters' ocean realm from their POV. Mother sea otters wrap their newborns up with kelps on the surface to keep them from floating away while they dive and hunt deep in the kelp forest. Seaweed also hide pups from sharks and killer whales. Symbiotically, sea otters protect kelp forests by eating sea urchins that devastate kelps.

PBS NATURE