While sea otters and river otters share many differences, they do share a major similarity - the threats they face in the wild. We can find beauty and poetry in nature, but we can also find terror and savagery, all essential parts of the entire picture. Contact us today. They are both weasel family members, as evident by their long, slender bodies. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The American Oceans Campaign is dedicated primarily to the restoration, protection, and preservation of the health and vitality of coastal waters, estuaries, bays, wetlands, and oceans. It might be because river otters have to fight the strong currents of a river and catch their food and fish. Their diet is composed of meat and protein such as fish, octopuses, lobsters, salmon, eel, mackerel, and squid. Lets dive in and get started! Greetings From the Vortex of Unpredictability, rapidly devours all the other unborn sharks, feathery, fluffy dinosaurs killed the brontosaurus. 2. As 2022 comes to a close, I am reflecting on everything weve accomplished together on behalf, Climate change touches many aspects of our lives, including the food on our plates. It has "toes" on its feet. For example, the seal and otter are two animals that have a lot in common and are often confused for one another. Who will make it to the next round for a chance at a feature story? This is likely due to their respective sizes and predators in their environments, as sea otters grow much larger than river otters do. Seals themselves have been observed to cause similar kinds of trauma when groups of males mob females. It is a grave mistake to see the so-called "depravity" of penguins, dolphins, and otters in the same way as our own behavior. Warming oceans and changing marine conditions due to climate change and ocean acidification make it harder for the whale, which has an exceptionally long migratory and gestation period, to prosper and further threaten the species survival. For whichever animal wins, ClimateProgress will write a feature-length article exploring the story behind whats ailing your chosen critter, and who is working to save them. Whale: The North Atlantic right whales namerightcomes from the belief that it was the right whale to hunt. The Mustelidae family is very unique and encompasses about 70 different species of animals including otters, wolverines, badgers, and more. The word pinniped means fin-footed or flipper-footed. If you travel further north to areas like the Alaskan seaboard, you could even find males weighing up to 100 pounds! The gestation period for otters lasts between 60 to 86 days while the gestation period for seals lasts between 9 months to 12 months. They feed on fish, shellfish, penguins, and other marine creatures. Members of Phocidae are known as earless seals or true seals. The Asian small-clawed otter is the smallest of all otters, measuring 65 to 94 cm (26-37 in.) difference between sea otter and penguinhazbin hotel cherri bomb removed. While sea otters use their two webbed hind feet and tail to propel them through the water, the four webbed feet of river otters are what enable them to swim efficiently. Individual Behavior Grooming. The most famous in the United States, the California seal lion can be found all along the West coast of North America. Your best bet for differentiating these animals is to look for their ears, flippers, tails, size, and fur. Male sea otters typically grasp the female from behind and bite her face, and this rough behavior was associated with the deaths of about 11 percent of dead sea otters discovered between 2000 and 2003. Some river otters can be found in wetlands and lakes. Partially due to that, its believed to be the most endangered cetacean in the world, a category that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Please try Charming, outgoing, and intelligent, otters are part of the Mustelids family and in the Lutrinae subfamily. Free shipping for many products! Please try The distinction between these two is important: the sea otter will spend its entire life floating in the ocean, swimming, feeding, and reproducing. At Georgia Aquarium, guests can see our southern sea otters in ourCold Water Questgallery and our Asian small-clawed otters in ourSouthern Company River Scoutgallery. Sea otters are mainly native to the northeastern seaboards of the Pacific Ocean, so they arent spotted in areas like the East Coast or the Gulf of Mexico. Our work is focused on solving some of the greatest threats facing our ocean today. Daily activities focus on feeding and grooming, interspersed with rest periods. are about 33 species in this family. If you look closely at river otters, youll notice that they have short, coarse fur made up of two layers: one for keeping them warm, and another waterproof one outside of that. Seals are larger than otters, weighing a lot more than them and growing much longer. . It is slow moving, floats when killed, and is full of oil and baleen. Did You Know. Male seals can grow up to 6 feet in length and weigh up to 600 pounds, while otters are much smaller and typically reach up to 3 feet long and weigh between 10 and 20 pounds. In 2010, California Department of Fish and Game biologist Heather Harris and colleagues reported 19 individual cases of male sea otters trying to mate with, and often fatally injuring, harbor seal pups in the Monterey Bay, Calif. area between 2000 and 2002 alone. There are about 33 species in this family. Watch Five Giant River Otters Face-Off Against a Huge Jaguar, Watch a Group of Massive River Otters Defeat a Crocodile in Vicious Battle, River Otter vs Sea Otter: 5 Key Differences. When seen for the first time, the Adlie penguin gives you the impression of a very smart little man. Many creatures dwell in the water, and some of them are difficult to tell apart. (36kg) and over 5 ft. (1.5M) in length.. Both species face threats of pollution, habitat loss, and reduced food sources. As their name suggests, sea otters are adorable mammals that barely leave their saltwater homes. They are also captured for the exotic pet trade in some countries and several species are still trapped and killed for their fur. Sea otters are slow swimmers, while their river-living counterparts are rather agile. St. Patty's is coming Whats the difference between sea otters and river otters? River otters will achieve maturity between the ages of two and three, while female sea otters mature between ages three and five, and males even later between ages five and seven. If a male cant find a mate because of his youth or inability to chase off competitors, Harris and co-authors suggest, he might search for a female surrogate that may take the form of a young otter or, as in their study, seal pups. Lastly, seals use blubber under their thick skin to keep them warm when they spend time in the water, but otters have dense, two-layered fur that keeps them insulated. Otters have paws and external ears while seals have flippers but do not have visible ears. Most seal species are currently not considered endangered, according to the IUCN Red List. The Northern fur seal and Nooded seal are vulnerable. There are nearly 2,000 different species! Otters are mammals in the Mustelidae family. : They are huge eaters! The pups learn their mothers voice to avoid confusion of the mother feeding another seals pups. A 2010 study found that a toxin found in blue-green algae called microcystin had killed at least 21 California sea otters. In addition to the difference in fur, river otters and sea otters have other differences in appearance. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This isnt where their social behavioral differences end, however. The maximum lifespan for male Nothern Elephant Seal is age 14; for females it is to age 20. While members of both otter subtypes love to swim, the swimming behaviors they engage in are quite distinct. At Rocky Shores you can explore a far Northwest world where land and ocean meet; where sea lions dive, seals splash and otters play. However, we noticed a conundrum that many readers seem to get themselves into. River otters also eat a different diet when compared to sea otters. Sea otters often float at the water's surface in forests of kelp, or giant seaweed, and entangle themselves to keep from moving in the rolling sea. Fur seals are not members of Phocidae, and they are not true seals either. And baby Magellanic penguins in Argentina are dying at an unprecedented rate due to heavy rains, strong storms and heat. The limbs are modified into flippers. River otters keep their young safe by their side and in dens that they build on riverbanks, while sea otter moms typically keep their pups nestled on their stomachs as they float until they are old enough to swim on their own. Given their preferred habitats, this is only natural, though there are some dietary overlaps between sea otters and saltwater river otters. Dolphin Coast Presented by Margaritaville by Wyndham, Beginning Environmental Leadership Program, Next Up: Sea Lion Pup Born at Georgia Aquarium, Alliance of Marine Mammals Parks & Aquariums (AMMPA), International Marine Animal Trainer's Association (IMATA). difference between sea otter and penguin. Whats the Difference Between a Dolphin and Shark? difference between sea otter and penguin. We focus on how to be proactive in finding solutions. Otters belong to the Mustelidae family while seals belong to the Phocidae family. This is an important distinction to make, as sea otters are especially clumsy when they get on land! They weigh between 45kg to 3,200kg . In desperation, some male Adlie penguins tried to mate with the ground until they ejaculated. Another difference between river otters and sea otters is their appearance. Another significant difference is the number of offspring these creatures have. They are one of the only mammals that use tools to help them hunt and feed, and they happen to have the densest fur of any other mammal on the planet. River otters weigh between 11 and 31 pounds. A post shared by Daniel Rosengren (@naturebydanielrosengren). They have short limbs with webbed feet. Sea otters are hardly the only marine animals to behave in ways that make us cringe. True seals use blubber deposits under their skin to keep themselves warm when theyre in the water, which is quite often. If dolphins really disappeared tomorrow, as in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, I think their final message would be Screw You rather than the So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish farewell Douglas Adams imagined. What we might perceive as aberrant behavior starts earlyespecially violence. As Natural History Museum, London ornithologist Douglas Russell and colleagues reported in a preface to Levicks belatedly-released report, this behavior is so ingrained that when a researcher set out a dead penguin that had been frozen in such a position, many males found the corpse irresistible. In a bit of weird field work, the same researcher found that just the frozen head of the penguin, with self-adhesive white Os for eye rings, propped upright on wire with a large rock for a body, was sufficient stimulus for males to copulate and deposit sperm on the rock. I fear Ive just made the Socially Awkward Penguin seem just that much more socially awkward. In other species, post-hatching battles begin almost immediately. subfamily. (label) A large number or quantity; a vast amount.A sea of faces stared back at the singer. The North American River otter is classified as Least Concern meaning they have safe population stability as of today. When I'm not writing personally or professionally, you can find me camping along the Oregon coast with my high school sweetheart and Chihuahua mix, or in my home kitchen, perfecting recipes in a gleaming cast iron skillet. Thanks for signing up for Ocean Conservancy emails. Their scientific name, Pinnipeds, says it all. Inside pregnant sand tiger sharks, for example, the first embryo to grow large enough rapidly devours all the other unborn sharks in its shared womb. Sea otters eat sea urchins, seaweed, clams, and crabs. Welcome back to March Sadness, ClimateProgress educational bracket tournament of animals impacted by climate change and other environmental threats. It is a grave mistake to see the so-called depravity of penguins, dolphins, and otters in the same way as our own behavior. Only your votes can decide who moves on for a chance at a deep-dive feature story. There are over 70 different species of cetacean. In addition to this, once you know the fundamentals of what to look for, its quite easy to differentiate whether or not an otter is a sea otter or a river otter one is large and fluffy and the other is small and streamlined. Otters and seals have many things in common. The elephant seal can weigh up to 6,000lbs and grows 20ft long. These remaining otters can be found in rivers, lakes, and freshwater wetlands. Penguin: There are a lot of different types of penguins, and climate change is affecting all of them. Still, these mammals are very different from one another, and were going to show you the differences between a seal vs otter. They entirely depend on meat for survival. There are quite a few to discuss, as river otters and sea otters belong to different genuses of animal. Many of, Crocodiles are among the most terrifying animals of all time. Though they may look similar, there are distinct differences between the two. Less like Flipper and more like the megalomaniacal King Snorky of The Simpsons, a dolphin has a permanent smile that gives off a decidedly creepy vibe. Decades of efforts to help the dark gray baleen whale recover through international protection have done little to improve the species prospects. The dark sides of otters, dolphins, and penguins are just as much a part of their nature as the parts we find so squee-inducingly adorable. Another major difference between sea otters and river otters is their mating habits. The sea otter is the "fluffiest" among these three animals. When comparing the sea otter vs river otter, you may wonder if they the same animal. The Northern fur seal and Nooded seal are vulnerable. The sea otter does, however, have a shorter tail than the river otter. The notion that sea otters fall in love and hold hands in the ocean so that they dont drift away from one another is a foreign concept to a river otter! While sea otters are found in the sea, Asian small-clawed otters are found in freshwater wetlands and mangrove swamps. Otters are one of the most fascinating and charismatic marine mammal species. Since river otters are much smaller, they are more prone to predators. Whereas a female southern sea otter grows up to 50 pounds, a female northern sea otter can weigh up to 70 pounds. Who will you choose? While a southern sea otters fur maintains heat well in the cold water, their metabolism must work quickly to help keep the animal warm. Not only do these two creatures have different habitats, but they have both evolved fur to best suit those habitats. A sea otter also has a shorter tail than a river otter, and river otters are narrower in their body mass. These aquatic mammals split their time between the land and the water. Seeing a dolphin at sea should be just as chilling as how many people feel when they see the sinuous silhouette of a shark. A river otter mother usually has between two and three babies, called pups. Another interesting tidbit about penguins is that 15,000 years ago, they were actually able to tolerate a warming climate. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. On average, river otters have two to three pups per litter with the pups going off on their own after about six months to a year. Many people may not know this, but sea otters are much larger than river otters. Asian small-clawed otters spend more of their time on land than in water, which helps keep a stable body temperature. Sea otters are part of the weasel family. About Us They even have the adorable habit of floating on their backs, even while theyre eating, and have been known to hold hands with each other while sleeping so they dont drift apart from their pals! While it may seem obvious at first, you may not know all of the differences between a river otter vs sea otter. Taxonomically speaking, river otters and sea otters are different genera. As the smallest species of otter, they range in size from 4.4 to 11 pounds, with a body length of only 16 to 24 inches, which makes them half the length of a southern sea otter! These carnivorous mammals inhabit fresh and saltwater rivers. They have a fat layer called blubber under their skin that makes them keep themselves warm during the cold season. Two out of those three species are now in decline. River otters also reach sexual maturity earlier and are typically able to reproduce sooner than sea otters. I am a non-binary freelance writer working full-time in Oregon.