Sea otters have two natural predators.
Sharks and Bald Eagles
To feed its young, an eagle parent may swoop down and snatch a young pup from the water while its mother is looking for food.
Few mothers are as loving and devoted to their young as sea otters. Sea otters need good mothers, because they're totally helpless at birth. They can barely swim. They can't feed themselves, and they don't know how to clean their fur to stay warm.
For the first month of its life, a sea otter pup rests quietly on its mother's chest as she cuddles, grooms, and feeds it. Until the pup is about 6 months old, the mother never leaves unless to look for food. Sea otter mothers have only one pup at a time. Probably because pups require so much attention.
Sea otters, in general, are social animals. They feed by themselves. They often gather together in rafts to rest in their favorite kelp bed. They're the only otters who gather in rafts.
Sea otters spend as much time feeding during the night as they do during the day----and so they nap for short periods whenever possible. Young or old, most sea otters sleep with their forepaws tucked under their chin or held over their eyes.
Sea otter pups are born on land and in the water. They weigh 4 to 5 pounds at birth. Young pups spend most of their time resting on their mother's chest to stay warm and safe.
When a sea otter mother must leave her pup alone, she sometimes wraps it in kelp to keep it from drifting away on an ocean current. Adult otters will also wrap themselves in kelp to sleep. However sea otters can sleep just as well floating on the open sea.
One of the first things a sea otter pup needs to learn is how to groom its fur. How do they learn it? Same way, we do, by watching its mother. Pups also need to learn how to dive, what foods to eat, and how to use a stone to crack open seashells.
Sea otter pups love to play and wrestle with each other. Sometimes they even play with their mothers or other adult otters. This particular kind of playing isn't just fun, but helps the pup important survival skills.
When escaping from danger, a sea mother tucks her pup under her foreleg and dives underwater. Or if the pup is large, she sinks her teeth into its loose fur and pulls it under. Pups are not strong enough to dive by themselves until they're 2 to 3 months old.