Male sea otters don’t provide any care for their offspring while the females nurse, feed, protect, and groom the young for up to 6-8 months.
Male sea otters do not provide any care for their offspring.
While a mother is foraging, she wraps her pup in kelp at the water surface to keep it from drifting away. At any sign of a predator, the female clamps onto her pup’s neck with her mouth and dives.
Female sea otters groom their pups extensively for 3 months as their coat develops. A pup’s coat traps air, which keeps the animal afloat.
Pups start diving at 2 months of age. The pup typically remains dependent on the mother for about 6 to 8 months after birth.
• Image | ©️ Karen Hall, Some Rights Reserved(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
• Sources | (Allegra & Gunderson 2012; Estes, 1980; Lockwood, 2006; Nowak, 1999; Paine, 1993)
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