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SEA OTTERS Life and Death

SEA OTTERS Life and Death. Major Objectives. Sea otter evolution Relationship between sea otter and man Sea otter’s role as a keystone predator Sea otters and kelp forests Sea otter futures. Evolution of today’s sea otter. 2 million years ago… Enhydra lutris. Humans like sea otters .

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SEA OTTERS Life and Death

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  1. SEA OTTERSLife and Death

  2. Major Objectives Sea otter evolution Relationship between sea otter and man Sea otter’s role as a keystone predator Sea otters and kelp forests Sea otter futures

  3. Evolution of today’s sea otter • 2 million years ago…Enhydra lutris

  4. Humans like sea otters

  5. In the beginning…

  6. A simple and complex life • Food, shelter, breed, avoid being eaten

  7. Sea otters eat a lot of meat

  8. Work of a keystone predator

  9. Keystone predator in action

  10. Otters love urchins • There are kelp forests because there are otters

  11. Kelp forest stability • Human hunting changes the kelp forest structure

  12. The first otter kill • 8-9000 ya, otters become an easy target

  13. Russians get lost in Alaska • Russians discover Alaskan wildlife in 1741

  14. Sea cow is easy meat • Last few thousand steller’s sea cows on the planet have a hard time of it

  15. Sea otter genocide • Otters previously only hunted for warmth and food

  16. The massacre continues • Demand for otter fur grows throughout the world

  17. The process of skinning The fleshy pieces still attached to the fur are scraped off delicately so as not to cut into the fur

  18. What the otters used fur for… • Otters can spend 50% of daylight hours cleaning their fur

  19. A daily life of peril Otters can die from the cold

  20. The last of the otters • 150 years after excessive hunting, people realize a mistake has been made

  21. Otters repopulate the world • Miraculously, otter population has not been too far reduced for regrowth

  22. Otter death still occurs • Aleutians demand cultural hunting rights back

  23. Ignorant violence • Californians deliberately murder protected sea otters

  24. Otters are loved • Despite rare deaths, otters now cherished in many parts of the world

  25. A new threat emerges • In 1991, first killer whale attack on Alaskan otter is witnessed

  26. Otter killer • 3 killer whales, 3-6 otters a day, ten years

  27. Whale killer • The reasons why

  28. Red for murder

  29. Solutions to the problem • No solution except the impossible

  30. Cetacean populations

  31. A great fall • Whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters

  32. The threat of extinction • Can the sea otter still go extinct?

  33. A sign of things to come • Ripple effects

  34. Rise and fall • The sea otter’s life history has been shaped by human greed

  35. Sea otter today • A different relationship currently exists

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