Sea Otters VS River Otters! What's the Difference?
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- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2024
- #seaotters #otters #kpassionate
A marine biologist answers the question: how do you tell sea otters from river otters?
00:00 - Sea Otters VS River Otters
00:55 - Types of Otters
01:59 - Are River Otters and Sea Otters the Same?
02:44 - Difference Between Sea Otters and River Otters
04:32 - River Otter or Sea Otter
06:08 - How Many Babies Do Otters Have?
07:15 - Sea Otters Holding Hands
07:51 - Otters Moms
08:12 - Giant River Otters
09:00 - Kpassionate
Both sea otters and river otters can be dangerous, as we've seen with some of the recent attacks. Learn more about the sea otter attacking surfers here: • Surfboard Stealing Ott...
Let’s start with basic taxonomy. All otters are part of the “mustelidae” family, also known as the weasel family. This family includes badgers, wolverines, and even the domesticated ferret. Sea otters and river otters are also part of the same sub-family, called Lutrinae. This subfamily includes the North American River otter, Eurasian river otter, as well as the South American giant river otter. But there is only one sea otter.
Let’s look at the similarities and shared characteristics of the various otters. All otters love to play. They play with things like rocks, or toys if they’re living under human care, and pretty much anything they can get their dexterous paws on. And otters love to wrestle.
All otters have similar body shapes. Just like every weasel in the mustelidae family, otters have long spines and short stubby arms. These long spines allow them to be extremely flexible, sometimes twisting themselves into positions that you or I would find very uncomfortable.
However, there are several differences in the anatomy of sea otters and river otters. Sea otters are bigger and bulkier. They are actually the heaviest weasel in the weasel family. The largest adults can weigh up to a hundred pounds.
Sea otters also swim on their back, using their large paddle-like hind flippers and they are extremely adapted for ocean waters. But this means they are also very awkward on land. River otters have much smaller feet, making them much more agile and comfortable on land. River otters also use all four paws to swim in a doggy-paddle motion. River otters are much sleeker than sea otters which is one of the reasons they are faster swimmers than sea otters.
The biggest difference between river otters and sea otters is in their names. Sea otters are almost exclusively found in the sea, specifically the kelp forests of the North Pacific Ocean. River otters are found in rivers and lakes all over the world and they sleep on land in dens.
These different habitats also mean that river otters and sea otters have different diets. Sea otters aren’t fast enough to catch fish, so they mostly eat shellfish like clams, mussels, and sea urchins. River otters eat a lot of fish, but they also eat land animals like rodents and lizards.
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Shout out to all the great Giant River Otter dads helping out in childcare.
And also murdering caimens like they are nothing
River Otters are so 'look at us we're so cute. Sea Otters 'hold my clam'
Nah, I think it would be the other way around lol, river otters can be very agressive
@@DiamondDrizzle depends on the river otter, oriental otters tend to be very acclimatized to humans.
I swear to God, as a Brazilian native, I did not know that Giant River Otters were even otters (we call Ariranhas).
Like, here they considered incredibly agressive, child-eating predators. So we dont tend to associate them with cute sea otters.
Thank you I was wondering if anyone was aware of that point. Sea and river otters cute and low key dangerous to humans BUT fricken Amazon river otters are highly aggressive pack killers. I have not seen a pic where you could not instantly see that they are killers.
I seen a video today of a otter that’s was in the drainage sewage in Kansas City that’s was bitting the neck of a raccoon and dragged the coon into the sewage pipe very scary
You are such a good teacher. I've really enjoyed leaning about otters. I didn't know anything about them before coming here. I love when someone explains what I don't know, in a way I can easily understand and connect it all. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome! That is an amazing compliment. I appreciate the feedback and am so glad to have you here!
Fantastic! There was a TV miniseries about 15-20 years ago called Surface. It involved a sea monster chimera. Amusingly, it was kind of sweet as a baby, but absolutely terrifying as an adult. The production design borrowed heavily from otters, being both adorable and vicious. When you showed the images of the South American giant otter, I thought, "Oh my God... they're real." :)
Hahaha they are terrifying for sure!
Let's see: River otters don't play a critical role in the future of the earth's environment. River otters may swim faster but they can't dive as deep as sea otters. They have no Katmai (a huge disadvantage).
So we should domesticate river otters? I mean the giant ones already have a social structure like wolves.
river otters are still pretty important, even though they are not a keystone species!
I live in coastal Mississippi. I’ve been seeing a lot of river otters while fishing lately. I had always assumed they were sea otters until a few years ago I started researching them. It’s always a treat to see. Especially when they’re hunting. They much on crabs and barnacles like it’s candy!
I was thinking that maybe older river otters stay vocal while the sea otters stop meeping after a year (except for JoJo!)?
Thanks KP another great video. The giant river otters are a little scary. When they hunt as a group, it is very scary. Plus they aren't cute as the sea otters.
I agree hahaha
I must ask, what would do you think would happen if a sea otter and river otter met? theyre so different and similar at the same time so it makes me curious about their interaction with each other
River otter would swim circles around a sea otter lol. But if a sea otter caught it then it would be curtains!
Interesting info always KP thank you 😍
It looks like sea otters have a flatter nose compared to river otters, which probably improves the speed underwater for the latter. Do sea otters use their nose underwater? Maybe for stirring up sediment in search for food?
Not very much I don’t believe. But they can close their nostrils when diving so maybe it has to do with that???
7:38
Mom: stop touching all of me
Son: fine
Mom: don't drift to far stupid
3:38 that’s actually kind of cute!
This is so interesting! I love otters! I've never gotten to see a sea otter in real life, but I have seen some River otters! They are both so cute!❤
Never realized they could grow so large.The sounds are always hysterical! 🥰
So with mustelids like otters having longer spines, do they still have the same number of vertebrae? Great video, btw!
Good question! Yes nearly all vertebrates have the exact same number of vertebrae.
Very interesting. Thank you
Thank you for featuring the otter species. I learnt new things about their behaviours.
Wow This one was a really interesting video! Thanks for doing it!
0:16 "but how do you tell one otter to an otter"
I've always thought the Great River Otters were kinda mean and ugly looking, but finding out they're actually a big cooperative family is so cool and sweet!
Lovely video!
Thank you!
Very helpful to know that sea otters do not typically eat fish
thanks as usual for the content, KP! Have there been any instances in captivity of breeding between the two species? Such as with lions and tigers?
It is not possible to interbreed the two as far as I know
I think the Mustelidae family so fascinating. Carnivorans in general, and the Caniformes and feliformes…very interesting. And something else cool - while there are many European, North American, African and Asian river otters, there are also the neotropical river otter, or _Lontra longicaudus_ found from Mexico to Argentina. They’re essentially just South American river otters (but not the giant Amazonian ones).
Also along the coasts of Perú and Chile, there’s the marine otter or _Lontra felina_ - which is like a “brackish” river otter. It’s got the looks of a river otter, but feeds and hangs out a lot of the time along beaches, swims and hunts in the ocean near shore, in estuaries, lagoons, and places where the salinity of the water can fluctuate.
I love Mustelids too! I have 4 ferrets at home 🥰
What about the Smooth Coated and the Small-Clawed? They have some pretty big families.
they tend to be maternal with solitary adult males, like cheetahs or tigers!
I know this isn't related to the video, but it is a debate I have in otters in pop media. I was happy for how otters were featured in Pocahontas and they were having the kind of behavior you would expect to see happen in otters from real life. PB and J was a cute show that had main characters as otters and they were young aged. Bear's Big Blue House had a couple of otter characters that were fun and were twins. There was an otter featured in Surf's up but unfortunately was sort of on the bad side and it would've been better if the penguin characters were otters and so it wouldn't look too similar to Happy Feet. There was an otter in the Penguins of Madagascar show named Marlene but I didn't think the show treated her fairly and if she was in a movie with nice writers than she would've been treated better. I tried hoping for Marlene to be in a Madagascar movie but I couldn't see it happen and I ran out of luck for her to be those films but it doesn't mean she has to avoid being in a movie forever and I think it will work better for her to be in a Kung Fu Panda film and since her species does occur in East Asia. Zootopia had otters featured but it was too bad one of them had to act savage and it wasn't charismatic behavior from otters but I'm glad there was a reason why Mr. Otterton acted savage. I'm glad sea otters were featured in Finding Dory but it's too bad they couldn't talk in the film and if they did, they would have had Californian accents. I was upset for how an otter was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and it was being killed in the film and it would've been better if Rocket's siblings were genetically enhanced like him but all of them would be killed except for Rocket. That way it wouldn't upset anybody who would never want to see an otter get killed. So that's my debate of otters in pop media.
Very cool!
Okay, but why do giant river otters sound like laughing children when hunting, it's scary...
Hahaha I dunno. Those guys are scary!!!
One point of concern those large packed Amazoni otters are hyper aggressive and blood thirsty.
Good cage match would be 1 grizzly vs 1pack of Amazon otter
Do River Otters have to do as much coat care to stay warm, or do they get to have blubber to help keep warm?
No not nearly as much! Although it is still important, they come out of the water and sleep and rest on land so a thick coat isn’t as necessary as it is for sea otters.
I still can't believe the giant otter can take down a crocodile
caimans, but yes
Many Asian countries have small clawed Asian otters as pets🦦🦦
I've heard about marine otters, is it just another name for sea otters?
Great video by the way
Marine otters are something else entirely!
@@KPassionate so they're one of the river otters then? I wonder what makes them ended up being called marine otters :0
@@a.penguinwithcastielpfpmarine otters are specifically on the pacific coast of South America.
marine otters, also called "sea cats" are closely related to the american river otter, part of Luntra! but theyre more derived from the basal otter, being saltwater and sea based, they also occupy a similar niche to sea otters, hunting shellfish, but retain the ability to fill the niches of river otters when necessary!~
What about Asian small clawed otters? My zoo is getting some of those in the future, and I'm interested in knowing more about them and how they differ from other otters.
Torpedotter is cute, while too-good-for-land otter is crazy in mating season and does horrible things.
KP, I understood that the Northern sea otters (in WA and Alaska )were different in some ways than the southern ones found in Central CA coast …can you speak to this? Thanks, Betsy
Yes there is a sub species called the Southern Sea Otter in California and Oregon areas. They are a bit smaller but can probably still interbreed with the Northern sea otters. So very closely related! They used to be the same population before the fur trade dwindled their numbers and area.
Yes the northern sea otters have denser fur
other difference is that Sea otters can close their ears and nostrels for diving! also what makes sea otters different from not just otters but even the very closely related pinnipeds (seals, pinnipeds are very closely related to the mustelids!) is they can give birth in water, so unlike otters and seals that have to give birth on land, sea otters can spend ALL their time at sea! Sea otters also have the worst smell, taste and hearing of any otter, but they dont really need them anyway!
I have seen river otters hunting in the ocean (in harbour areas). Is this common?
Yes! River otters are often seen in the ocean. Which can be confusing haha
Me too! I live in coastal Mississippi and I’ve been saying them lately. They are impressive hunters and chew through crabs and barnacles like candy.
In next hundred thousand years, sea otter will become a daulphine. This is an evolution.
Maybe!
There's two sea otters South and North sea otters.
水賊有二種在海及在河水溪中
What's the difference between an otter to an other?
You left out the Honey Badger.
I love the otters can I have one?
Sea otters are endangered.
That giant South American river otters ain't no joke they will F*CK you up so cute my ass lol