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Elizabeth M. Carey, age 10, of San Diego, Calif., for her question:

WHERE DOES THE SEA OTTER LIVE?

The story of the sea otter comes in three chapters. The first chapter is happy, full of playful fun. The second chapter is a sad tale that almost ended in total disaster. The present chapter is full of hope and promises. Certainly the sea otter's life is improving, and someday it may as happy it was in the beginning.

People who care about the earth feel miserable when they learn that another animal has been added to the list of endangered species. It means that this animal and his kinfolk are becoming so rare that all of them may perish. And when an animal species becomes extinct, it is lost to the world forever.

    But this story need not end in disaster. Nowadays when an animal is on the danger list, laws are passed to protect the few survivors, which gives them a chance to multiply. This is just what happened in the case of the sea otter.

The sea otter is super smart and full of charming ways. He also wears a soft, silky fur coat. He enjoys life along shallow shores, where he eats and sleeps and plays in the water. In ages past, huge herds of his kinfolk frolicked along the Pacific shores. There were sea otters off northern Asia, Alaska and all the way down to Southern California.

Then came hunters who slaughtered these gentle creatures for their rich fur coats. As they became scarcer, a sea otter pelt sold for $1,000. Soon there were no sea otters in the southern range, and people woke up to the fact that soon there would be no sea otters at all. In 1911 the United States, Canada, Russia and Japan made laws to stop the slaughter and protect the few survivors.

Gradually the herds in the Northern Pacific grew larger. Then in 1938 a few survivors were discovered off California. After some 60 years of tender care, there are enough sea otters in the world to occupy about one quarter of the shores they once enjoyed.

Sea otters depend on floating beds of kelp seaweed. And both kelp and sea otters can be wiped out by polluted sea  water. Even when all goes well, the herds multiply slowly. The devoted mother tends her pup for about 18 months and bears a baby every other year. The youngster must wait three years before he or she is ready to add another young sea otter to the family.

 

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