The sea otter pup was tiny, probably less than 2 weeks old, alone in Morro Bay on an October morning earlier this year. A ...

Chanel Hason gets a lot of false reports of sea otters on the Oregon Coast. "I get email several times a month of someone saying they saw a sea otter running along the beach in Oregon somewhere,” said ...

A southern sea otter with a purple sea urchin in Monterey Bay, California. (Credit: Morgan Rector) (CN) — Sea otters are voracious eaters, munching away on shellfish, urchins and other invertebrates ...

When people talk about sea otters, the words “cute,” “cuddly,” and “curious” often come to mind. But now you can add another descriptor to that list -- climate change fighters. Along the West Coast ...

When sea otters were reintroduced along the coastlines of islands in Southern California and British Columbia, researchers saw kelp forests return to areas that were destroyed by sea urchins. But how ...

Scientists have made an interesting discovery connecting sea otters to forest recovery, reinforcing their role as a keystone species. The researchers were then able to identify patterns, explaining ...

Sea otters play a vital role in their ecosystems by controlling sea urchin populations. Without otters, urchins can overgraze kelp forests, causing widespread destruction. By keeping urchins in check, ...

With their pointy spines, sea urchins are not warm and fuzzy marine animals that people want to snuggle up to. While they are ...

Researchers examining a century of ocean maps made an exciting discovery linking sea otter populations to kelp forests: Where sea otters thrive, so do these critical underwater habitats. The research ...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The weathered UC Davis Marine Laboratory looms in thick fog on the edge of the ocean near Bodega Bay. Inside, an experiment is playing out that gives a badly-needed boost to ...