Otters looking for Open Water

Observation by Samantha McNeley

Our river and the Bering Sea is so frozen that sea otters are going back and forth across town trying to find open water. There have been at least 10 sightings in the last few days.

LEO Says

Interesting to see an otter on land and searching for a more safe area and/or water. The primary documented record of similar behavior occurred during the winters of 1971 and 1972, and was formally detailed in a 1975 study published in the Journal of Mammalogy (Effects of Sea Ice on Sea Otters). https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-abstract/56/1/91/839163. The study highlights the cold winters of 1971 and 1972 and thick ice impacting the otter's habitat. During these winters the otters were trapped on the ice and on land leading to long periods without food and many were observed with signs of malnutrition. In 1971 higher rates of mortality were observed.