Sea otters eat many different types of food--and a lot of it! Shellfish are their favorite. They love clams, scallops, mussels, and abalone, but they also like crabs, sea urchins, squid, snails, octopus, and fish. They prefer foods that they can pick up easily or pry off rocks.
In areas where sea otters have been living for a long time, studies show that individual otters have their own favorite foods.Each otter eats only two or three types of foods. This could explain why so many otters can live peacefully in the same area.
Like us and our primate friends sea otters have the rare ability to use tools to collect and eat their food. They use stones as hammers to break loose abalone or mussels from the rocks. And they bang shellfish against stones to crack open the hard shells.
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Sea otters can change food into energy at a very fast rate. This energy heats up their bodies and keeps them warm. Even with their thick coats, sea otters lose body heat much faster than land animals do. So they need to eat a lot of food to keep their temperature up.
Sea otters eat one-quarter of their body weight in food every day. If you were like a sea otter, you would have to eat a mountain of food every day just to stay warm!
Author's Note: Crazy or what? However, it is normal for those cute cuddly marine animals any way.
To find food, a sea otter, may dive 300 feet (91.4 meters). But otters usually prefer the shallower water where food is easier to reach. Their average dive is 35 feet (10.6 meters) and lasts 1 to 2 minutes. A sea otter, when necessary, can stand underwater for 4 minutes.
When a sea otter finds shellfish or other foods, it stashes them in hidden pouches located under its forelegs. Then it returns to the surface to eat. A sea otter can carry as many as five small sea urchins at a time in each pouch.
Author's Note: Wouldn't that be sort of uncomfortable? I mean sea urchins have spiky shells.
Once back at the surface, the sea otter prepares to eat. First it balances a stone on its chest. Then holding the food between both paws, it pounds the shell on the stone until it cracks open.
