Otters Keeping It Together

In these days of social distancing, it’s nice to see animals in nature doing their own thing. In this case, sea otters. Glacier Bay National Park’s official Twitter account shared a video of dozens of sea otters floating together in a “raft.”

No, they’re not on a three-hour tour. Even though sea otters are great swimmers, these social animals congregate together when they need to rest and be safe.

Sea otter raft ~ A social animal, sea otters have been documented in rafts containing 1,000 animals!?
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?Video: Dozens of sea otters float together in the waters of Bartlett Cove. As we circle the otters, the mountains surrounding glacier bay pass by in the background. pic.twitter.com/jPwzWSvuCB

— Glacier Bay NP (@GlacierBayNPS) July 30, 2020

Groups of resting sea otters will wrap themselves up in seaweed to keep from floating away from each other, forming something that resembles a raft. Some researchers have documented concentrations of over 1,000 otters floating together.

There’s safety in numbers. The individuals, which can include females with their pups and separate groups of males, float together for mutual protection from predators in the waters around them, such as orcas and great white sharks.

You may notice that the video is filmed from a distance, and for good reasons. Sea otters are wild animals, and they can be unpredictable, not to mention sea otters have strong teeth and a powerful bite. Don’t let that cute little face fool you. Because sea otters have a high metabolism and require a lot of food, those resting otters are trying to conserve energy. The last thing you want to do is wake a hangry otter.

So, enjoy this video provided by Glacier Bay National Park, and know that it is possible to keep it together in difficult times.