History of Otters (That We Know Of) | Lindsay Nikole

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]I don't like to start videos off on a serious note, but it's come to my attention that some people are upset with me over something that I not did but haven't done. A couple weeks ago, I saw a comment that stopped me in my tracks. I'm a little embarrassed to show you, but here it is. Why no video otter?

[00:00:14]When I search otter only one short. I subscribe, but time is running.

[00:00:19]Klouse Wolf Bert, what a way with words.

[00:00:22]You're right. I've practically never talked about otter, and that is shameful. I'm ashamed of myself. So today, I'm going to make it up to you because otter have quite the story of how they came to be and who they are today. They're semi-aquatic, obviously.

[00:00:33]Some are marine mammals, but like barely. One prehistoric otter could go headto-head with a lion based on what the hell it got up to. One species alive today looks like the warrior of the other ones. Otter are shockingly all over the place. They gallivant, they horseplate, they get up to monkey business. So, in hopes that Klouse in all his majesty will stay subscribed to this channel. Without further ado, my name is Lindsay Nicole and this is the history of otter that we know of.

[00:00:58]Before we get started, I have a very surprising announcement. We have a new member of the family. Gian, who I'm sure you know has been editor of this channel since day one, got a new kitten and he named it Bata, which translates to sweet potato. She's very cute. I learned of her existence 20 minutes ago, so obviously this is a very exciting day.

[00:01:16]Congratulations to Gian for the new member of his family. Please enjoy these images of Bata. Now, as always, let's get the general information out of the way by starting off with what otter are.

[00:01:26]So [ __ ] cute you could squeeze them.

[00:01:28]Yes, but they are also mustalids, members of the mustalid family. Some of the more typical mustalids are [ __ ] like weasels, classic musids, but it also includes badgers, wolverines, things called martins, which are just [ __ ] stupid how cute they are, pull cats, not strippers, but another type of muslit.

[00:01:44]And of course, our group of interest today, the otter. It's worth mentioning since we've talked plenty about cats and also about seals on this channel that the mustids are yet another lineage in order carnivora. They're are carnivorants along with cats, dogs, bears, etc. If you're not familiar with carnivorans, I'm going to give you a quick little recap. The carnivorants are pretty iconic order of mammals today.

[00:02:03]Lots of the apex predators belong to this group, but it's also quite the diverse one. Lots of little guys, obviously, weasels, etc. The group first appeared a little over 40 million years ago and had quite the evolutionary journey that you can learn about in my history of life series or in my book if you so prefer. And today the members of carnivora can generally be split into two groups. Cat-like and doglike. Let's do a diagram, a blank whiteboard. So we've got carnivora. Carnivora can be split into cat-like, bellformia, dogike, canopformia. I'll do uh cat and dog.

[00:02:34]This kind of looks like a cell undergoing mitosis. Anyway, Bellia has [ __ ] like, you guessed it, cats, also hyenas, civets, mongoose, jennets.

[00:02:43]California is kind of all over the place. [ __ ] like, yes, dogs, wolves, obviously, red pandas, raccoons, skunks, seals, walruses, bears, and the mustolids. So, weasels, the badgers, and the otter. Lots of marine mammal representation in the canopform lineage.

[00:02:58]They don't have the [ __ ] big dogs, the whales. [ __ ] unullet. Godamn them. But two big mamalian transitions back to the water nonetheless. At least to some extent, which is pretty sick. I say at least to some extent because otter aren't fully aquatic. Sea otterters are pretty much Yes. There's a lot of diversity in the otter lineage.

[00:03:14]14 species alive today. Yes. And I'm going to be introducing you to all of them. They're all at the very least semi-aquatic, but they have a bit of range. I will also say I've done some research in the field. Ask people what their favorite animal is, as one does.

[00:03:27]Some of the hottest women I've ever met say otter across the board. Bad [ __ ] love otter. They have fantastic PR. Will that PR be questioned today? Perhaps.

[00:03:36]Only time will tell. Well, I'm sure many of you use pictures of otter as a form of therapy. Might I suggest an alternate and likely more productive solution.

[00:03:43]Most of us know we should probably go to therapy, and most of us have a reason we haven't. It's expensive. The weight lists are absurd. You don't know where to start, where you spend 3 weeks googling therapists and then close the tab and never do it. I've been there.

[00:03:53]Growth Therapy is genuinely trying to fix all of that. and they're the sponsor of today's video. They work with over 125 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. And with insurance, sessions average around $21. Some people pay even less depending on their plan.

[00:04:06]That's a lot more accessible than most people assume therapy can be. What I actually like about how they've set this up is that you're not getting blindly assigned to somebody. You browse real therapist profiles up front, their bios, specialties, and credentials, etc. Then you can filter by things that actually matter to you. Maybe you're looking for someone who shares a similar identity to you, maybe the same language or faith.

[00:04:23]Whether you want virtual or in person, there's over 25,000 licensed providers.

[00:04:27]If you try someone and they're not the right fit, you can switch. No need to feel guilty. No commitment to it. And so, yeah, no subscription. You pay per session. That's it. You can book in as little as 2 days with appointments available nights and weekends, which for those of us with chaotic schedules, that's pretty sick. Typically kind of hard to find. There is a better way to get help, and it's Growth Therapy. To learn more, head to the link in my description or scan the QR code on screen. Thank you, Growth Therapy, for sponsoring this video. Now, back to the otter. So, where do otters come from?

[00:04:54]What they looking like in the fossil record? Let's start with the muslid origins. Seems like they first arose in Eurasia about 35 million years ago based on molecular evidence. One of the earliest mustids that we know of is called mustilictus. Ah, there's a lot of jokes you can make with that one. Hey, how do I make one a bit more modestly?

[00:05:11]Mustis penis.

[00:05:14]Anyway, there aren't any artist reconstructions of mustis, at least that I could find. But there is of another early mustalid from North America.

[00:05:21]Cormtis Walseni. Wait, this has been in frame the entire time. Whatever. Cormtis Walseni. They were alive like 27 million years ago. The early must eventually split into seven main lineages. One of which was the otter. Their lineage is called Lutrini. Comes from the Latin word lutra, which means otter in case you were wondering. The oldest otter fossil that we have is called Mayanis.

[00:05:44]Dates to about 20 million years ago.

[00:05:46]Apparently, weirdly, Myanictus was referenced in a couple different papers I read for this video, but it is practically nowhere to be found outside of those papers. Like, you look up Myanictus on Google and it says, "Did you mean Invictus?" Then you switch it and boom, only the papers I mentioned show up. So, not sure what to say about that. Just putting it out there anyway.

[00:06:06]How the [ __ ] do you begin to pronounce this one? Smigail. That can't be right.

[00:06:12]And what's that based on? Who who who decided that? Has four out of five stars on how to pronounce.com. I have to watch a short ad. [ __ ] you. You know what?

[00:06:21]These ads are making my [ __ ] laptop slow. So, we're just going to go with Smigail Melly Lutra alive 6 million years ago in the marshy wetland forest of China. They got to nearly 100 lb and based on the teeth probably ate mollisks, clams, classic otter [ __ ] Analysis of their limbs showed similarities to both semi-aquatic animals that are boopping around in and out of the water and semifossorial animals that are boopping around in and out of under the ground. Diggers like badgers. So, probably not a super strong swimmer. Maybe a paddler that was also digging. Paddling and diggling.

[00:06:54]Diggling. Paddling and digging. Loving life. But this next one was probably loving life at the expense of others.

[00:07:00]And Hydriadon omoensis. Sick name.

[00:07:03]Andhydron omois. a massive otter that got to the size of a lion. They got to 440 lbs, making them the largest otter to ever exist that we know of. Dude, the [ __ ] size comparisons are outrageous.

[00:07:18]Not because of their size. Their size is crazy, but then like what's up with the woman with the body? Who needed to put a woman in with gargantuan breasts? You know, was that necessary for the size comparison of Anhydraodonis? And then this guy in the [ __ ] little business casual. I want to make my own size comparison sticker. So maybe if I jump high enough, you can get my my whole body. Let's see.

[00:07:46]Nope. I don't think I can jump higher than that.

[00:07:49]Nope. Damn it. All right, I'll take a picture later. Not only the size of the lion, but the diet of one as well. Yeah.

[00:07:55]Scientists analyzed the isotopes in their teeth, thinking they were going to get values that indicated a diet more like hippos or other semi-aquatic animals. But no, they were values that indicated a diet more like big cats and hyenas. Dude, a lion-sized daughter with a lion-sized lifestyle. They were alive like three and a half to two and a half million years ago in what is now Ethiopia. Specifically, the lower Omo Valley, hence the name omoensis. If you watch the evolution of us series, that probably sounds a bit familiar to you.

[00:08:22]Were early hominins like oralopythecus on the menu for nhydraodon ammois maybe.

[00:08:27]So then there's nhydratherum from the late measine to early pyioscene in Eurasia. This one's actually the sister group to modern sea otterters at some point. And hydrotherum made its way to North America with the earliest fossils showing up in Florida under the name Andhydratherum Terranov or Terino Novi.

[00:08:42]Probably Terinovi. How did a Eurasian otter end up in Florida, you might ask?

[00:08:46]We don't know for sure. One hypothesis is they dispersed from the northern rim of the Atlantic Ocean into the Gulf of Mexico sometime between 3 to 1 million years ago. Another says they evolved in the North Atlantic and then spread into the North Pacific through the Arctic Ocean and the Bearing Straits. What we do know is that Anhydratherum Terinovi is thought to have given rise to Anhydra the modern sea otter. This was quite the transitional guy. Four lambs looked more like a river otter suggesting it wasn't fully committed to the marine life yet.

[00:09:11]But it had heavily worn cusps on the carnacial teeth which is consistent with a diet of extremely hard prey. Mollisks i.e. more like the diet of a sea otter.

[00:09:19]So kind of already developing the sea otter diet before it was fully a sea otter. More of a habitat generalist than a marine specialist which clearly set them up for success. When I was originally outlining this video, I thought that this would be a good spot to talk about the transition to water otter had. Considering how we've talked about the transitions whales and seals had seems pretty natural, but the more I thought about it and the more I researched for this video, realize there kind of isn't enough to say about it to make it a whole section. Maybe a hot take, but they don't really have those dramatic changes to their morphology that you see with seals and especially [ __ ] whales. Most otter species are still pretty tied to land. They're still very much semi-aquatic. And the otter species also exist on a gradient. You'll see like yes, all otter are overall streamlined for life in the water.

[00:09:59]Streamlined body form. They all have a varying degree of webbed feet. Some don't though. They have pretty dense insulating fur. Some much more than others and some don't. They have fur, but it's not like heavily insulated.

[00:10:09]Kind of makes me wonder what the parallel species would be in the whale transition to water. You know, like obviously it's incorrect to say otter are at this stage of whale evolution cuz that's not how it [ __ ] works. Each evolutionary journey is vastly different, but it's still kind of fun to think about anyway. And isn't that what life is about? Fun and whimsy. So, I'm going to do it anyway. And I'm interested to hear your thoughts or suggestions in the comments. I feel like otter are at the Myetus stage. Myetus was a whale relative. Had a lot of transitional features, alive like 47 million years ago. They still had the classic tetropod form, four limbs, nostrils moving slightly up the [ __ ] snout, but not full-on blowhole yet. And they spent most of their life in the water. But some fossil evidence suggests they still came to land to give birth.

[00:10:51]Hence the name My Miaetus, which means mother whale. Because some of the fossils we have of them are literally being a mother. Not for long though, unfortunately. Obviously, something tragic happened. Anyway, otter have the classic tetropod form. Most otter give birth on land. All except the sea otter.

[00:11:07]I don't know, maybe my acetus was kind of like the otter of the eosene, but whatever. It's a pointless comparison.

[00:11:12]It's not the same at all. So, let's move on and get back to the otter so I can show you the varying degrees of what it can mean to be an otter. Like I said, there's 14 species, lots to cover. I will say most of this information for the diversity section came from otter.org was a super helpful website for the section. All except the giant river otter and sea otter. That info I got from a few different scientific articles and I kind of structured this to be like rapid fire introductions with sea otterters as the headliner, river otter as the runnerup and you will see why. So, let's get into the rapid fire introductions. Starting off with the Congo clawless otter. Alive in central Africa in the Congo basin. They get to about 5 feet long and like 44 pounds.

[00:11:48]This is most definitely the most land dwelling otter species around. At least that we know of. Their fur is shorter than their brethren. Not needed for insulation from the cold waters. And their front feet have no webbing at all.

[00:11:58]So they have fantastic dexterity, but that also means they're not tearing it up through the water. But you know what?

[00:12:03]They are tearing up worms. Lots of them.

[00:12:05]And they look like a guy that eats worms. Look at their little fingers.

[00:12:09]Those are the hands of mischief, if you ask me. Yeah, they eat lots of earthworms. They dig through the mud and pull them out with their little tootsies. They also reach into snail shells to extract snails. They also eat crabs, which is something I would like to see personally. And yeah, that's them. Next, another clawless otter, the African clawless otter, up to about 5.2 feet and 48 lb. One of the larger freshwater species. These guys are found basically everywhere, rivers, lakes, estuaries, mangroves, forests, savannah, etc. They've been spotted in deserts and at sea as well. Quite the adaptable little guys. They're born with small claws, but most of those are shed as they develop, keeping only the claws on the three middle toes of the hind feet.

[00:12:46]The front hands are bare, clawless, extremely dextrous on account of the no webbing as well. They use those hands to hunt crabs, which make up the majority of their diet, and they switch to more fish in the winter. Next is the Asian small clawed otter, the smallest otter in the world that we know of at like 2 to 3 feet long and 4 to 13 lbs. They're found across a pretty wide range of countries in Asia. They have partially webbed feet, short claws for digging in mud and lifting rocks. Like the African clawless, they use their front paws to catch prey, and they happen to be extremely social. You can see them in groups of up to 15 of them at once. Four to eight is more typical. They have these little bird-like squeaks they communicate with.

[00:13:23]And apparently, their social vocabulary has at least 12 distinct calls. Groups are built around a dominant bonded pair, so like mama and papa. And it's thought that the pair is made for life, which is very adorable if you ask me. A stable family home. Next, the Eurasian otter.

[00:13:37]Their scientific name is Lutra Lutra.

[00:13:39]So, classic otter. This is a common classic typical otter. They get to 3 1/2 to 4.3 feet long and 15 to 20 lbs. And they eat mostly fish. Found all over Eurasia, which as a range is [ __ ] massive. They're pretty solitary. Males don't really hang out with females except when they're trying to bang.

[00:13:55]There's just not a lot of drama here, but they have been seen at over 13,000 ft in the Himalayas, which is pretty [ __ ] sick. Unexpected place for an otter. The smooth coated otter is from South and Southeast Asia. They get to about 4 feet long, 15 to 22 lbs. They have a diet of fish, shellfish, crustaceians. Pretty standard river and estuary otter. Fun little thing. They've been increasingly showing up in cities.

[00:14:17]Singapore in particular has become known for its urban otter population. These little otter are frequencing streets, using fountains for a quick dip, just hanging out in the city. Another quick one, the southern river otter found only in the southern parts of Chile, western Argentina, and the humid forests of Patagonia. There's also an isolated population on Staten Island. Not that Staten Island, but this Staten Island.

[00:14:37]They are in no danger of becoming Guidos, at least for now. The North American river otter. 3 to 5t long, up to 22 lbs, down across Canada and the US and northern Mexico. They are opportunistic eaters, fish mainly, but also muscles, amphibians, birds, crabs, crayfish, frogs, rodents, aquatic insects, whatever's out there. Honestly, they also have a very specific social habit, which a lot of other otter do actually. And I haven't mentioned this yet, but I think it's the most social in North American river otter. They like to poop in communal piles near the water called latrines. And these are not just a public toilet. These are social hubs.

[00:15:11]Smithsonian wrote an article about it in 2020 and said these are their social hubs, like going to the drive-in or mall. They like to slide around, you know, slide down river banks, play in snow. They like to chitchat, gallivant, etc. Next up, we've got a two for one.

[00:15:25]Until very recently, the neotropical otter was believed to be a single species going from Mexico all the way down to Argentina. In 2024, researchers determined it was actually two species separated by the Andes mountain range.

[00:15:38]The northern population from Mexico through Central America is now its own species, the Misoamerican otter. You can tell them apart by their snouts. Both are about 14, not 14t long, 4t long, about 26 lb. Both eat mostly fish with crabs, snakes, lizards, frogs, birds, and mammals filling in the rest. The neotropical can be found at elevations up to nearly 10,000 ft. So, big news, there are now officially 14 species of otter as of 2 years ago. So, a lot of things online will say there's 13.

[00:16:06]They're just not updated yet cuz this is new exciting [ __ ] There's 14, maybe more. Maybe the Eurasian otter should be split into three and we just haven't figured that out yet. The way you can tell these two apart is by their nose.

[00:16:16]Did I already say that? There's a cute little diagram that I saw and I'll put it right here. Next, the spotted necked otter named such due to the spots on their neck. They're also sometimes called the water hyena in Africa.

[00:16:26]They're the smallest of the three African otter species. About 3.3 ft long, 20 lb. Unlike the Congo and African clawless otter we met earlier, this one is very committed to the water.

[00:16:35]It has well-developed webbing and claws, and because of that, it's apparently a bit awkward on land. What it lacks in land grace, it makes up for in social coordination. Spotted necked otter tend to live in large single sex groups for most of the year and they like hunt together and they do stuff together.

[00:16:51]They take down schos of fish together which is very water hyena against fish if you ask me. The next one has one of the more dramatic conservation stories in this lineup. The hairy-nosed otter.

[00:17:01]At the beginning of the 20th century, they were very common across Southeast Asia. But by 1979, populations had declined to [ __ ] And in 1998, they were thought to be extinct. There hadn't been any recorded sightings in a decade. But one researcher in Thailand was not convinced. She kept looking and in 1999 she was proven right. The hairy nose otter were found alive being kept as pets and we'll get to that in a bit.

[00:17:23]Since then the hairy nose otter has been confirmed in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, but their populations are still pretty isolated and vulnerable. But where do they get their name? Their rhinarium, the black part of the nose that in most mammals is smooth and moist. In this species, it is hairy, distinctly hairy.

[00:17:41]little detail, but sets them apart.

[00:17:43]Their diet is, you guessed it, craps, crayfish, fish, mollisks, water snakes, birds, amphibians. Also, they don't seem to have toilet areas like a lot of other otter do and just go wherever they [ __ ] please, like [ __ ] animals.

[00:17:55]Next, the marine otter, not to be confused with the sea otter. This is the marine otter. Completely different.

[00:18:01]Their scientific name is Lantrailina, which translates to otter cat. Might make you think of the jaguar 1. That's not the same thing either. That's a cat.

[00:18:09]This is an otter, but they're often called sea cats. They're very small, like 3 to 4 feet long, about 11 lb, so like one of the smallest otter that we know of. Marine otter are found along the rocky western and southern coasts of South America. They're quite rare there.

[00:18:22]Their diet skews heavily toward crustaceians at about 40% with rockfish, mollisks, and other prey making up the rest. But what makes them very sick is their fur in my opinion. They have this like outer shell layer that other otter don't have, which means they don't need to seek fresh water to rinse off the salt after being in salt water. It also gives them added protection on rough rocky shores. Makes them look all spiked up in photos like a freaked out cat. All right, we're at number 13. The giant river otter. Arguably the most heinous of all otter species. Actually, it's not arguable. It is fact. What the [ __ ] is this?

[00:19:01]Objectively, god damn. They've got a thousand yard stair. They're the longest otter up to six feet long. Do you know what that is? That's right here. All otter. Right. I decided that, right? I decided this is 6 feet a long time ago.

[00:19:14]Yeah. Full otter. They get to 70 lb. Not the heaviest, but definitely the longest. They're found in freshwater streams, rivers, lakes of South America.

[00:19:23]They have four webbed feet and a paddle-like tail and an insulating pelt similar to the sea otterters, just shorter and less dense. They move hauntingly well on land, too, capable of getting across several miles of land when needed. Their diet is primarily fish, catfish, perch, etc. But giant otter have also been documented taking on anacondas. [ __ ] what the [ __ ] They can live in groups of up to 20, and they are technically one of the largest carnivores in South America, which again, objectively heinous. I will say I did look into the eyes trying to figure out why they look like that. You can't deny they're unsettling. And I did come across a concerning paper that suggested it was maybe due to disease. And then I felt really bad. The paper documented different eye disorders they notice in a population of otter in the Brazilian Pantanau, which is I think that's how you pronounce it. It's the world's largest tropical wetland area, by the way. And I was reading and I was like, "Oh [ __ ] Oh [ __ ] What if I've been being a total dick?" And then I came across this figure talking about the different eye disorders they were talking about. If you zoom in, photo A is a river otter without any eye disorder, but it still has a [ __ ] weird eye thing going on. So, I don't think I was being a dick. I guess that's just their baseline. Actually, maybe still I'm being a dick. I don't know. I just think it's fair to say they're a little bit [ __ ] What were the other eye diseases due to? Human [ __ ] As you would imagine, the eye disorder things that they were talking about can just happen because things just happen like they do. but also potentially pollution in the water, runoff, diseases from nearby livestock or domestic animals.

[00:20:56]I'm going to talk about some of the stuff otter face in a little bit. Otter overall and I'll also introduce you to an organization that is helping all otter and you might want to get familiar with. So, give me a second because finally we have our headliner. These are the [ __ ] on the cover of the otter pamphlet. You know them, you love them.

[00:21:14]The sea otter.

[00:21:15]>> You and what are we looking at here?

[00:21:16]>> We're looking at sea otterters. the epitome of objective cuteness. They check off all the boxes. Big eyes, fluffy, and round. I guess not all the boxes because they're not small. I don't think you could consider them small because these are the heaviest otter that we know of. They can get to like 100 lb. That's more than a cheetah, dude. That's nuts. But it's because they're dense as [ __ ] just like their fur. While most marine mammals insulate themselves with blubber, sea otterters went a completely different route. Their fur, the densest fur of any mammal that we know of. They have 150,000 individual hairs per square centimeter. The hairs interlock to trap a layer of air against the skin, which acts as insulation against cold coastal water. No blubber required. It's an elegant solution, but as I'll get to in a sec, an extremely costly one. Sea otterters are the only otter that are fully aquatic that we know of. Every other otter on the list gives birth on land, raises its young on land, uses land for multiple things or something or etc. But sea otterters, no, no, no. Foraging, giving birth, raising pups, all of it happens in the water.

[00:22:18]They'll occasionally come out to rest on land, but they don't need to. Beyond the fur, they've got a full suite of adaptations for full-on cold water life.

[00:22:26]Webed hind feet for swimming. A highly efficient kidney system for osmo regulation, which is like managing the salt load from living in the ocean.

[00:22:33]Increased lung and blood volumes for oxygen storage while diving. A unique eye structure for underwater vision.

[00:22:38]Dense bones. Extremely short femurss that reduce drag while swimming.

[00:22:42]increase metabolic rate to generate body heat. This is serious [ __ ] They're clearly the most whale of the otter.

[00:22:47]They entered the marine realm less than two to three million years ago, which evolutionarily is like very recent.

[00:22:54]Blickickety split. Whales, like I mentioned, have been doing this [ __ ] for decades of millions of years, i.e. tens of millions of years, i.e. over 40 million years. So, this is like once again lickety split for the otter on a geological scale. Today, there's three subspecies of sea otterters. the Russian, the northern, also called Alaskan, and the Southern, also called Californian. Sea otterters do a lot of other cool [ __ ] that is also very cute.

[00:23:17]They hold each other while sleeping or wrap themselves in kelp to keep from floating away. They forage by diving to depths of around 130 ft. They hunt abalone, clams, crabs, starfish, and about 40 other marine animals. They use their stomach as a table, floating on their backs at the surface with prey balanced on their chest, almost like their stomach is a tool. But they even do that and not just in an almost way.

[00:23:40]Otter are literally in the stone age.

[00:23:42]They use stone tools. That's a huge [ __ ] deal. They already evolved strong bite forces and fracture resistant enamels on their mers specifically to handle hard shelled prey. But even with all of that, constantly bashing their teeth against crab shells and abalone causes significant chipping and dental damage over time. So tool use came into play to reduce that wear. They pick up a rock and use it to crack a shell open, preserving their teeth while still accessing their prey, like marine snails and thick shelled by valves. But it also gives them access to prey they wouldn't otherwise be able to get to with just their teeth. Especially females, who are generally smaller than males, they use tools more often to get to the thickens.

[00:24:18]According to biologist Chris Law, who led research on this at UC Santa Cruz, the females are likely using tools to overcome their smaller body size and weaker biting ability in order to meet their calorie demands. Raising pups takes a lot of energy, and the females need to be efficient in their foraging.

[00:24:30]The study shows that for some animals, tool use is an important behavior for survival. And that it is for the otter.

[00:24:36]Researchers can actually identify otter tool use from the shells left behind.

[00:24:39]When a sea otter uses a rock on a muscle, it leaves a very specific damage pattern. The two sides of the shell still attached with a diagonal fracture running through the side, distinct from anything else that might crack open a muscle. So, we can look at a shell and know an otter did that, which is pretty cool. Another thing on the menu is sea urchins in a very big way. Sea otterters are what's called a keystone species, meaning their effect on the ecosystem is wildly disproportionate to their actual numbers. Like, you need them. So, I'm going to draw a little diagram. This is like the classic ecology diagram that you use for like 9th grade biology perhaps, which I used to teach, but I'm not going to be able to draw like it's like always a nice little illustration.

[00:25:18]Anyway, let's see. I could just have Gian find one of these diagrams I speak of, but I'm going to draw it myself.

[00:25:24]That's some pretty [ __ ] good kelp that I drew there. You know what eats kelp? Urchins. Yeah, we'll just do that for an otter. Otter. Sea urchins eat kelp. Otter eat urchins. If there's no otter, urchins will eat all the [ __ ] kelp and create an urchin baron. No kelp left. Barren seafloor, nothing left. Sea otterters, when they're around eat the urchins, and that keeps the population in check so there's not a boom of urchins eating all the [ __ ] kelp.

[00:25:50]Obviously, that's very important because not only is kelp just aesthetic, but it's also home to a variety of creatures. Rockfish, invertebrates, hundreds of species that depend on kelp for their habitat. So, make sure to get a picture of an urchin baron. So, that's a thing, but it goes even further than that because kelp is not only a great habitat, but it's also one of the most efficient carbon capturing organisms on the planet. A 2012 study showed that sea otterters can increase kelp forest carbon storage from 4.4 4 to 8.7 megat tons annually. A 2024 study from Monterey Bay Aquarium looked at a century of kelp maps along the California coast and found that in regions where sea otter populations recovered, kelp cover grew nearly 60% even in spite of ocean warming, pollution, and coastal development. When sea otterters are there and they're thriving, kelp forests are measurably more resilient, which means the otter is not just cute and small and fluffy and round. The otter is also a necessity.

[00:26:44]And we almost lost them. I've kind of been like soft launching this part of the video and I know your spidey senses are probably tingling now that shit's about to get a little depresso but just bear with me. I'm gonna turn it around.

[00:26:56]And also this is important to know. Sea otterters and actually pretty much all of their otter species were decimated by the fur trade that began in the mid- 18th century. It targeted different species in different regions. Eurasian otter were heavily hunted for centuries across Europe and Asia for their dense waterproof pelts. Populations collapsed across much of their range by the 20th century. Smoothcoated otter were harvested in the hundreds across South and Southeast Asia and the species went locally extinct in two provinces in Pakistan. The hairy-nosed otter, which remember was believed to be fully extinct in 1998, had his population decimated by fur hunting at the beginning of the 20th century. But the sea otter is where the fur trade was horrific. In 1741, a Danish captain returned from Russia with sea otter pelts. The fur was insanely soft and warm and almost immediately became one of the most sought-after items in the world, especially in China, where the upper classes wanted it for clothing.

[00:27:42]The Russians moved first, sending hunters across the Illutian Islands and into Alaska. Then the British came. Then the Americans, who dominated the trade from 1790s onward, all throughout the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. By the mid 1800s, a single sea otter pelt could get you between $500 and $1,000. So, the incentive to keep hunting was huge, and there was no regulation. Population after population was hunted to local extinction. By the time commercial hunting was banned in 1911, the global sea otterter population had dropped from an estimated 300,000 animals to somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 in roughly 150 years. The Southern California population was between 16 to 20,000 was reduced to an estimated 50 individuals. 50. As you would expect, those subspecies today have really low genetic diversity. The recovery has been real but slow. Today, there's about 150,000 sea otterters globally, which is great. and they've reoccupied much of their former range. Washington's population, after reintroduction efforts, has grown to around 3,000.

[00:28:38]California's southern sea otter sits at around 3,000 as well and occupies about 13% of their historic range. Beyond the otter themselves, remember the kelp forest [ __ ] the collapse of sea otter populations restructured entire ecosystems across the North Pacific coastline. Those ecosystems are still in the process of coming back. For most other otter species, the story is quieter, but not over. Illegal otter fur trade is still ongoing. Nearly all species outside of sea otterters are in decline and some are endangered. The animals are still being seized in trafficking operations across Asia and Africa. Remember I mentioned I used a lot of info from otter.org for this video. Well, that is actually a website run by International Otter Survival Fund, IOSF, which is one of the conservation organizations working on behalf of all otter species. They run a rehab center in Scotland where they've treated over 260 individual otter and helps people caring for otter in 47 countries. Over 30 years of operation, they've supported projects in 91 countries across every continent where otter live. They've run education seminars in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Tanzania, Indonesia, etc. They were actually involved in the field work that helped rediscover the hairy no-nosed otter, the one that everyone thought was gone. And they've done population work on smoothcoated otter in Pakistan and Eurasian otter in Nepal. A big part of their focus right now is fighting the exotic pet trade, which I mentioned earlier and has exploded in Asia partly because of social media. You've probably seen those videos. Obviously, they do really well. So, people are seeing otter on YouTube and Instagram. Then, they want one, not realizing that getting a baby otter typically means killing its mother. That's a big focus for them right now. They also founded World Otter Day, which happens every year on the last Wednesday of May. And when is that compared to when this video comes out? I think it literally just happened. That was not planned. They also run a children's education program called Team Otter, which is specifically trying to build the next generation of people who protect them. So, you should definitely check them out. go to their website to see ways you can donate or get involved.

[00:30:24]And that's otter, [ __ ] I did the [ __ ] video. And I actually had a really fun time researching this because otter are cute as hell. If you like this video, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next video coming out on maybe some of the coolest new fossil discoveries that we've seen so far this year. And I'm sure that you can think of a couple that are definitely going to be in the video. Keep up with behind the scenes updates, our Discord server, live streams on Patreon. Thanks again to Growth Therapy for sponsoring this video. Be sure to check them out through the link in the description. And for now, stay curious. The world has a lot for us to learn. See youa.