The sea otter is very cute . It has a small round head , a small nose, little eyes and ears , and a fat body.
When the sea lion population crashed, they started fishing sea otters.
And this elderly sea otter has a remarkable talent for basketball.
America's westward expansion went hard on the California sea otter, which seemed to vanish in the first half of the 19th century, an unlucky victim of the fur trade.
A young sea otter frolics in Monterey Bay, California, as a diver watches nearby.
Without sea otters keeping sea urchins in check, their population has exploded.
Batten down the hatches when this sea otter pirate comes aboard. He's got a great right hook!
Well, ongoing investigations have revealed that predation is the most likely cause of sea otter decline after all.
Back in the 1970s, most experts thought the southern sea otter population would expand at a swift clip of nearly 20% per year like those in Alaska.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium also works to save the sea otter.
The sea otter is gentle and relatively tame